Porsche’s Bamber Takes First GTLM Pole As Factory Driver

Subtitle:Lindsey Claims TOTAL Pole Award for Park Place Motorsports

Earl Bamber claimed his first career GT Le Mans (GTLM) pole for the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America in his first qualifying attempt as a Porsche factory driver.

The Continental Tire Road Race Showcase takes the green flag at 3:05 p.m. ET on Sunday and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1.

Bamber, driving for Porsche North America, posted a best lap of 2:02.384 (119.074 mph) in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR co-driven by Joerg Bergmeister. Bamber’s best lap broke the previous GTLM track lap record of 2:03.747 set by John Edwards last year.

Qualifying second at the 4.048-mile circuit was Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R driven by Antonio Garcia and co-driven by Jan Magnussen. Garcia turned a best lap of 2:02.608 (118.857 mph). The pair hold a scant two-point lead over No. 25 BMW Team RLL driver’s Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner in the GTLM point standings.

Filing into the number three spot in GTLM was No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia driven by Giancarlo Fisichella with a lap of 2:02.721 (118.747 mph). Fisichella and co-driver Pierre Kaffer are the defending GTLM winners at Road America.

Lindsey Claims TOTAL Pole Award for Park Place Motorsports At Road America

Park Place Motorsports’ Patrick Lindsey captured the TOTAL Pole Award in the TUDOR Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class. This is Lindsey’s second GTD pole of the season, the first coming at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Lindsey posted a best lap of 2:09.370 (112.644 mph) in the No. 73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT America co-driven by Spencer Pumpelly. He edged second-place qualifier Ben Keating’s Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R by 0.118 seconds. Keating qualified with a lap of 2:09.488 (112.542 mph).

Driver Christina Nielsen qualified third with a lap of 2:09.947 (112.144 mph) in the No. 007 TRG-AMR Royal Purple/Orion Energy/LaSalle Solutions/PassTime USA Aston Martin Vantage with co-driver Kuno Wittmer.  Nielson is currently second in the GTD point standings behind Paul Miller Racing drivers Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke.

NOTES:

• Porsche North America’s No. 911 entry driven by Patrick Pilet headed to the pits early due to engine issues. Pilet’s co-driver Nick Tandy was fastest overall in the second TUDOR Championship practice session on Friday.

• Corvette Racing has its original No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R at Road America this weekend. The car was rebuilt following an incident in June at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

• This was Porsche North America’s second consecutive pole as a team following Nick Tandy’s run at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, when he became the first-ever repeat GTLM pole-winner.

QUOTES:

Earl Bamber, Driver – No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR

“It was a good day. The car was really hooked up. The first time I ever drove in the dry was this morning in free practice. I tried to put a clean lap together. We just needed one lap, and then we just waited out the rest of the session. The Corvette got really close there at the end with three tenths of a second, but really happy to be starting on the pole.”

“I think there is big momentum with Porsche. To get a win at Le Mans for the 17th time was incredible. Then we come back here and immediately get some good results. We had a pole there at Watkins. Then to go on to Lime Rock and then the pole and the win. It’s a new team, but we’re really starting to know each other really, really well. It’s still 4 more races to the end of the season, but a lot of positive things are happening for Porsche today.”

Patrick Lindsey, Driver – No. 73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT America

“The qualifying for the GTD cars is tricky because we go after the Continental races. Early on, before the tires piqued I had a backup plan in case we went into a red flag situation. I got my flyer in and then put my head down for a perfect lap. This is a really hard track to do it on, I was able to string one together on my fourth flyer, and I knew that was it. I took one more lap and parked it and it was good enough to hold up for pole.”

“[For the win tomorrow] it’s going to take no mistakes, especially in the first opening laps on cold tires. It’s going to be very dicey. We’re going to be racing, we’re going to be close together. I’m going to have to start the race without missing any marks. Even starting from pole there is no guarantee you’ll be in first place. I’m just going to have to get a little lucky on the start and hold the crowd off behind me. It’s a difficult track, just off-line are difficult curves and tire debris that can ruin your day if you go off for sure.

Sunday’s on-track activity opens with a 20-minute warm-up session beginning at 10 a.m. ET.