James on Slicks, Hawksworth on Wets Score GTD, GTD PRO Class Poles
By Tony DiZinno
BRASELTON, Ga. – Treacherous conditions greeted Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) and GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) drivers in Friday’s qualifying for the 26th Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. But on a damp track with consistent drizzle, Ian James and Jack Hawksworth split their Michelin tire strategies to score the two class poles.
On slicks, James set the overall fastest time among the 27 cars (19 GTD, eight GTD PRO) on his 10th and final flying lap. That broke a tie with Hawksworth, still best of the GTD PRO entries and on wets, as they had initially posted the same lap time around the 2.54-mile road course.
James is the third different driver for the Heart of Racing Team to win a Motul Pole Award in GTD this IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, as teammates Marco Sorensen and Roman De Angelis had one pole apiece in the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
The best lap of 1 minute, 23.116 seconds (110.014 mph) netted out more than six-tenths of a second quicker than second place in class. This is James’ third career Motul Pole Award, first since 2004 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in an Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class entry.
It also follows Heart of Racing Team’s announcement earlier this month it will field a global Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) platform entry with the Aston Martin Valkyrie starting in 2025.
“This Heart of Racing Team likes to take a gamble,” James said. “We said let’s try slicks and keep it on the island, and it got faster and faster.”
James, making his first WeatherTech Championship start since the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in June, was happy to take off the team principal hat and put his driving helmet back on for qualifying.
“It’s nice to decompress and put the helmet on, and I really appreciate the opportunity to get behind the wheel every now and again.” he added.
Doriane Pin brought the No. 83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 into second in the car she will share with Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey. That car starts ahead of Aaron Telitz, in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 that he’ll share with Frankie Montecalvo and Parker Thompson.
GTD champions Paul Miller Racing, who seek to add the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup crown to the full-season WeatherTech Championship and IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup titles they’ve already sealed, will roll off from 10th in class. Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Corey Lewis share the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 in the team’s and Sellers’ home race.
Vasser Sullivan Lexus Poised to Secure GTD PRO Title from Pole
Hawksworth looked poised to start best of all GTD entries before James’ faster lap at the end of the GTD qualifying session supplanted him. However, his time of 1:23.168 (109.945 mph), still led the way among the eight GTD PRO cars and was second best among all GT cars.
That lap was nearly four-tenths clear of second place en route to his fourth Motul Pole Award of the season and 12th of his WeatherTech Championship career.
“It’s not bad at all; we’re pretty happy with that,” Hawksworth explained. “You’ve got slicks, you got wets. We had to put the wets on to be safe. It was then about managing the wets; it was warm, cool, warm, cool.”
The Englishman will share his No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 with full-season co-driver Ben Barnicoat and third driver Kyle Kirkwood as the trio seeks to defend its Motul Petit Le Mans win of last year.
More importantly, Hawksworth and Barnicoat will clinch the WeatherTech Championship GTD PRO title provided they take the race start on Saturday.
“It’s a great situation championship-wise. I’m happy for it,” Hawksworth said. “It’s amazing the amount of work that’s come into it here at Vasser Sullivan, as it hasn’t been easy. It’s had ups and downs. Ben and I drive the car but so many people make it happen; it’s a whole team effort to be part of this program and Lexus.”
The No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 was provisionally second in class in qualifying, but its times were deleted post the checkered flag for a rules infraction (driver exiting the car during qualifying).
That elevated the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R GTD of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner to second and the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Maro Engel to third.
Corvette Racing is in its final race as a full-factory program as it sends off the C8.R, Garcia seeks an elusive first Motul Petit Le Mans win and Taylor caps off his time with the program before moving to the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class in 2024.
Saturday’s race starts at 11:40 a.m. ET and streams flag-to-flag on Peacock and IMSA Radio. USA Network joins with TV coverage at 6:30 p.m.