Rain Cancels IMSA Qualifying, Porsche on Pole
Heavy rain results in no qualifying handing pole over the Porsche
The No. 6 Porsche 963 will pace the field to the green flag Sunday morning for the 2023 Sahlen's Six Hours at the Glen as qualifying was called off due to heavy rain. While the GTP teams were gearing up for their qualifying session and after a heavy rain had soaked the 2.45 mile upstate New York circuit, IMSA decided to call off the session due to standing water and large puddles around the circuit. Sunday's starting lineup was set by team championship standings, which gives the Porsche Penske duo of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy the pole.
Starting alongside the No. 6 will be the No. 31 No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Alexander Sims, Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken. The second row will consist of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura alongside the No. 01 Cadillac V Series R fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing. Points will also set the LMP2 and LMP3 grid, even though the session took the green flag to begin.
As the green flag dropped, the skies opened up and numerous cars took the green on slicks in treacherous conditions. Three cars, all on wet weather tires, went off course in turn seven as puddles began to form around the track. The No. 30 JR III Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Ari Balogh was first to find the tire barriers at turn seven, while the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson spun and collided with the stopped car of Balogh. The third car to arrive on the incident was the No. 17 AWA Duqueine D08 Nissan of Anthony Mantella who found a large puddle of water on the approach to turn seven as the two cars before him did. Mantella spun into the grass and collided with the No. 52 LMP2 machine.
Matthew Boyce/Prescott Motorsport Image
While the GTP, LMP2 and LMP3 grid will be set by points, the GT class cars were able to set qualifying times before the rain fell. Loris Spinelli, driving the No. 78 Forte Racing by US RaceTronics Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 set a new course record for all GTD cars with a 1:44.430. Spinelli's time was fourth tenths of a second faster than the GTD-Pro pole sitting car of Risi Competizione's Daniel Serra. The No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborgini qualified of Jordan Pepper qualified third overall and second in GTD-Pro, while Aaron Telitz qualified in fourth ahead of his Vasser Sullivan Racing teammate of Jack Hawksworth in fifth.
The green flag for Sunday's Sahlen's Six Hours at the Glen is set for 10:40am EDT with live coverage of the race on Peacock.
