Earl Bamber Wins Petit Le Mans GTLM Pole At Road Atlanta

Subtitle:No. 912 Porsche To Start From Back Of Grid After Last-Lap Crash

To say today’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) qualifying session was unusual would be an understatement. The 15-minute session for Saturday’s Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta saw multiple on-track incidents, penalties and failed post-session inspections.

While Earl Bamber posted the fastest time of the qualifying session, he lost control of his No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR with a few minutes remaining, going off course in Turn 5 and bringing out the red flag to stop the session. Per IMSA rules, the red flag wiped away his fastest time of 1:30.074. Thankfully for Bamber, his second fastest time of 1:30.304 (101.258 mph) was enough to keep him on the pole. However, due to chassis damage sustained in the incident, the team went to a backup car, and the new No. 912 Porsche also co-driven by Joerg Bergmeister and Frederic Makowiecki will start at the back of the GT grid.

Bamber’s Porsche North America teammate Nick Tandy initially qualified second in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR co-driven by Patrick Pilet and Richard Lietz with a time of 1:30.398 (101.153 mph), but failed post-qualifying inspection due to a ride-height infraction. He also will start from the back of the GT grid.

Qualifying third with a best lap of 1:31.685 (99.733 mph) was Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin. Gavin will begin Saturday’s race at the front of the GT grid with co-drivers Tommy Milner and Ryan Briscoe in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.

Two-time defending Petit Le Mans winners Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler will start near the back of the GT grid with co-driver Patrick Long in the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR after an incident in Turn 12 three minutes into the session prevented them from setting a qualifying time.

NOTES:

- Earl Bamber became the second TUDOR Championship GTLM driver to win more than one pole. The only other GTLM driver to capture multiple poles is Bamber’s Porsche North America teammate, Nick Tandy, with three poles dating back to the series’ inaugural race in 2014.

- Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda also serves as the final event in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup, a 52-hour competition combining the classic races at Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen.QUOTES:

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

“Our pole was really, really good. We had a good car today. Both Porsches were really quick. On my last lap we were getting quicker but I made a mistake in the fourth corner. I hit a river and did an aquaplane. We’ve come away with a lot of 1-2 results so I think we are going to push for that tomorrow as well.

“[The rain is] going to be a big subject tomorrow. Even on the qualifying it was right on the limit to run for qualifying. Having a lot of rain over the last few weeks, there’s not much more the ground can take. It’s not like the track has bad drainage, it’s just that the ground can’t take that much more. Just having the break for 10 minutes and not having the 30 plus cars moving the water, it makes a big difference. But after a restart the water levels will have gone up so cautions are going to breed cautions.”Saturday’s on-track activity opens with a 20-minute warm-up session beginning at 8 a.m. ET.