BMW penalties give Corvette the GTLM pole at Road America

Tom Blomqvist’s GTLM pole for Sunday’s IMSA Road Race Showcase at Road America was shortlived: Both BMW Team RLL entries were moved to the back of the class grid for ride-height infractions discovered in post-qualifying technical inspection.

The penalties give Oliver Gavin the pole after he had originally qualified second in class with a lap of 2m00.633s in the No. 4 Corvette Racing C7.R.

Blomqvist ran 2m00.344s in the No. 25 BMW M8, while teammate Jesse Krohn was originally third-fastest at 2m00.767s in the No. 24 entry.

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This is the first pole position of the season for the No. 4 Corvette and Gavin’s first pole since last year’s penultimate round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Gavin will share with co-driver Tommy Milner, who returns at Road America following a two-race hiatus after suffering a hand injury at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen one month ago.

“It was a good session for us,” said Gavin. “We found some speed in the car. I think it’s probably the best the track has ever been here for our car in terms of the grip level. That little bit of rain and the way the conditions changed -- it was super fast. And then it looked like the BMW was just that tick quicker, but now they got bumped. This day just keeps getting better! Let’s hope this just continues on and into a great race tomorrow.”

REVISED QUALIFYING TO FOLLOW