Acura on Pole at Road America

IMSA

Aug 3

The Road America battle for the best starting positions in the top GTP class turned into a thrilling contest, decided by fractions of a second. Ultimately, the top ten qualifiers on the undulating and comparatively long 6.515-kilometre Road America circuit were separated by just seven tenths of a second with both Acura ARX-06 and both BMW M Hybrid V8 sharing the two front line for today’s sprint race.

Nick Yelloly gave the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanaian team their third-consecutive pole position of 2025, putting his and teammate Renger van der Zande's ARX-06 P1 for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event at Road America.

Acura are going for their third win in a row in 2025, following victory for the #93 in Detroit and for the #60 Acura MSR machine last time out at Watkins Glen..

#93: Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian, Acura ARX-06, — 📷 © IMSA. #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian, Acura ARX-06: Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly

Nick Yelloly (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Qualified 1st: "Very happy about getting the pole, of course it's the best place to start. And I got a couple more points as well. I made a little mistake on the lap after, where I was actually tracking a little bit faster. So, I'm glad we were able to put it on pole after all, with two of my old sparring partners from my old manufacturer behind me! Nice way to finish the day. Great job to all the men and women at HRC and Meyer Shank Racing for putting it all together in order to give me a car that was capable of accomplishing this. Onwards to tomorrow."

Both BMW M Hybrid V8 in top 3

Both BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 qualified second and third. Sheldon van der Linde in #25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 missed pole by 0.053 seconds and will start from first row. Dries Vanthoor made it two BMWs in the top-three aboard the #24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8.

📷 © IMSA. #25 BMW M Team RLL, BMW M Hybrid V8: Marco Wittmann, Sheldon van der Linde (left); #24 BMW M Team RLL, BMW M Hybrid V8: Philipp Eng, Dries Vanthoor (right)

Colin Braun was fourth quickest

Winners at the last race, Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist will line up P4 in an incredibly tight qualifying session that saw the top four separated by only 0.08 of a second around the four-mile Road America circuit.

📷 © IMSA. #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian, Acura ARX-06: Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun

Colin Braun (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Qualified 4th: "Decent qualifying for us. Struggled a little bit this morning just to get a clean lap, but I knew we had a good car. It's just a matter of putting it together and getting a rhythm and getting a lap in. I mean, it's so close out there. Obviously, congrats to the 93 guys and Nick, that was a nice lap. But it's super tight in this GTP class. I feel like we have a good race car and certainly both Acuras starting in the front gives us some options. Proud of all the guys. They've been working hard and it's nice to see it paying off." Source: Acura

Porsche #6 in top 5

The two Porsche 963 from the Porsche Penske Motorsport factory team will start the eighth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from the third and fourth rows of the grid. Matt Campbell set the fifth-fastest time in qualifying at Road America in the US state of Wisconsin. He currently leads the drivers’ standings together with Mathieu Jaminet.

#6: Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP: Mathieu Jaminet, Matt Campbell — 📷 © IMSA. #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963: Mathieu Jaminet, Matt Campbell

Matt Campbell (Porsche 911 GT3 R #6): ‟Qualifying is over, now I’m looking forward to the race. Things are really close in the GTP class. We’re starting from fifth place, but we’re only a few tenths of a second off the pace. Our focus is on Sunday. I think our Porsche will be stronger in the race than in qualifying – that’s the positive point. Let’s see how warm it gets and how we navigate the lapped traffic.” Source: Porsche

Hyett, Altoè and Ward in LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD

PJ Hyett claimed the Motul Pole Award for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class with a margin over his nearest competitor of 0.666 seconds.

Giacomo Altoè, winner of the GTD PRO class race last year at Road America, won the GTD PRO pole with a 2:03.904 in the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 topping both Corvettes.

In GTD, Russell Ward was fastest among all GTD qualifiers in #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 he co-drives with Philip Ellis, with a lap of 2:03.475.

📷 © IMSA. Motul Pole Award LMP2 winner PJ Hyett celebrates his pole position with #99 AO Racing, ORECA LMP2 07; Motul Pole Award GTD PRO winner #81: DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, GTD PRO with Giacomo Altoè; Motul Pole Award GTD winner #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3, GTD with Russell Ward.