Gimple to Start Fifth in Brickyard Sports Car Challenge

jjomalley

Kyle Gimple delivered another stellar qualifying performance on Thursday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as he wheeled the No. 75 Compass360 Racing Children’s Tumor Foundation/HPD/Racing4Research.org Honda Civic Si to a fifth place starting spot for Friday’s Brickyard Sports Car Challenge event.

Gimple put down the fast lap time of 1:40.303-seconds around the 2.435-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis road course on just his second hot lap. In an effort to save the tires for Friday’s 2.5-hour race, Gimple ran just five laps during  the 15-minute qualifying session.

The result marked the third consecutive top-five qualifying position for the young race talent and adds to the momentum he has continued to build through the middle stretch of the 2014 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season. He and co-driver Ryan Eversley have seen a streak of positive performances over the last three rounds with a win at Watkins Glen and two fourth place finishes at Kansas Speedway and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

“The car has been really good today,” said Gimple who sits eighth in the IMSA Championship. “I just went out there for a few laps because we didn’t want to use up the tires but it was enough for fifth and I’m happy with that. I wish we had been just a little bit further up there, but we can’t complain. It’s a top-five at a track that doesn’t necessarily suit our car the best. I think the Caymans will be hard to beat here, but we’re hoping for a long green flag run tomorrow and maybe get the fuel mileage we need. We’ll do our best and see how it goes tomorrow!”

The race will be televised on Fox Sports 1 on August 3 at 12:00 PM ET.