Pla puts Ligier Honda on pole at Road Atlanta

Olivier Pla in his Michael Shank Racing Ligier-Honda JSP2 LMP2

LAT Photo for IMSA

Olivier Pla drove his Michael Shank Racing Ligier-Honda JSP2 LMP2 to pole position for the Petit Le Mans IMSA SportsCar Championship finale at Road Atlanta Friday afternoon.

The Frenchman's lap of 1m13.061stook the top spot by 0.459s over the SpeedSource-run Mazda Motorsports Lola in the hands of Tristan Nunez who turned a lap of 1m13.520s.

Pla, who was quickest in every session of free practice leading up to qualifying, said: "That was more or less what I was expecting, because the car has been very competitive from the beginning and we have been improving it every session.

"I love the American tracks and feel very comfortable here."

Third place went to the best of the antiquated Action Express Chevy Daytona DP in the hands of Dane Cameron.

GTLM

Richard Westbrook gave Ford Chip Ganassi Racing its fourth GT Le Mans class pole of the season in qualifying for Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-ending Petit Le Mans.

Westbrook laid down a best lap of 1:18.131 in the No. 67 Ford GT, edging out the No. 3 Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia by 0.152 seconds.

It marked the Englishman’s third class pole of the season as he and co-driver Ryan Briscoe look to steal away the GTLM title from Corvette’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, who head into the ten-hour race with a 11-point lead.

Milner qualified the No. 4 Corvette in seventh.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]The No. 62 Risi Competizone Ferrari 488 GTE of Toni Vilander will start third in class, with Joey Hand (Ford) and Daniel Serra (Scuderia Corsa) completing the top-five in class.

Remarkably, the entire ten-car GTLM class was separated in qualifying by 0.735 seconds.

Jeroen Bleekemolen took the Dodge Viper GT3-R to the GT Daytona class pole in its final race in series competition.

The Dutchman reeled off a quick lap of 1:21.305 to edge out the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Matt McMurry by 0.460 seconds.

It marked the first class pole of the season for the Riley Motorsports squad, with Bleekemolen set to share driving duties with Ben Keating and Marc Miller in tomorrow’s race.

The No. 23 The Heart of Racing/AJR Porsche of Mario Farnbacher and No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Christina Nielsen, who is on the brink of the GTD title, completed the top-four in class.

GTD

ViperExchange.com and team driver Jeroen Bleekemolen won the pole Friday for tomorrow’s Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, topping GT Daytona (GTD) qualifying for the season-ending race that will be the last appearance of a Dodge Viper in major-league international endurance racing.

Petit Le Mans is scheduled to go green tomorrow, Saturday, October 1, at 11:10 a.m. EDT. Broadcast coverage begins on FOX Sports 1 (@FS1) at 11 a.m. EDT to kickoff continuous live coverage throughout the day on @FS1, FOX Sports 2 and IMSA.tv.

The team’s usual closer, Bleekemolen will now both start and finish the 10-hour Petit Le Mans, which closes out the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

“It was great to give the Viper a farewell pole position in its last international sports car race, so I am really happy with that," Bleekemolen said. “It was actually not the toughest qualifying session I have ever done. The car was great, I had a good lap, no mistakes, and there is a pretty big gap to the next car. You couldn’t ask for more."

Bleekemolen first set the 15 minute qualifying session’s fastest time on his fourth lap and then locked down the pole for good one lap letter with an improved track-record time of 1:21.305 (112.4 mph). The No. 33 was just under a half-a-second faster than the second fastest qualifier.

The Petit Le Mans gets underway Saturday at 11:10 a.m. ET, live on FS1.

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