2025 IMSA Watkins Glen starting lineup: Acura takes second consecutive pole with No. 93
With a new face behind the wheel, Acura Meyer Shank Racing captured its second consecutive pole position in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series with a record-setting performance at Watkins Glen International.
Renger van der Zande turned a lap of 1 minute, 31.558 seconds in the No. 93 ARX-06, setting a new mark on the 11-turn, 3.4-mile road course in the Grand Touring Prototype category. Three weeks ago on the streets of Detroit, van der Zande took the checkered flag in the Acura MSR No. 93 after teammate Nick Yelloly had qualified on the pole position.
'Winning Detroit always helps take the weight off the shoulders of the whole team, the program,' van der Zande told NBC Sports' Dave Burns on Peacock after his first pole position since the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona. 'The Porsches are way ahead in the championship, and it's hard to beat them over the championship, so let's win some races, and this is a good start. We have a strong car in high-speed stuff like this. That was a very clean lap, and I was enjoying it a lot.'
Nate Ryan,
Yelloly, who won in the LMP2 category of the 24 Hours of Le Mans last week, and van der Zande will be joined by Kakunoshin 'Kaku' Ohta in Sunday's third endurance race of the IMSA season.
Jack Aitken qualified second (1:31.845) in the No. 31 Cadillac, followed by Colin Braun (1:32.167) in Meyer Shank Racing's No. 60 Acura ARX-06.
It was a disappointing showing for Porsche Penske Motorsport, which won the first four races of the season. Mathieu Jaminet qualified eighth (1:33.323) in the No. 6 963, and Felipe Nasr (1:33.533) will start 10th in the No. 963 that leads the championship standings.
Here are the pole-sitters in other categories for Sunday's six-hour race, which will start shortly after noon ET on NBC and Peacock:
LMP2: PJ Hyett, No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07, 1:35.878
GTD Pro: Andrea Caldarelli, No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, 1:44.595
GTD: Zacharie Robichon, No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, 1:44.788
WATKINS GLEN QUALIFYING ROUNDUP
Results
Results by class
Fastest lap by driver
Fastest lap by driver after qualifying
Fastest lap by driver and class after qualifying
Best sector times
Fastest lap sequence
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Weather report
Track limits analysis
PRACTICE RESULTS: Session I l Session II
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