WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – During a press conference Thursday before his qualifying session at Watkins Glen Int’l, Ricky Taylor called turn nine “the most frustrating corner in the world.”
A few hours later, the corner was far less frustrating and Taylor was far more gratified.
Taylor managed the blind, uphill left-hander with aplomb Thursday evening, recording a fast lap of 1 minute, 30.058 seconds (135.912 mph) around WGI’s 11-turn, 3.4-mile circuit to win the pole position for the IMSA WeatherTech 240 at The Glen.
It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Part of what makes turn nine so tricky is the difficulty it places on tires. As drivers try to time their fastest laps when their tires are optimal, turn nine doesn’t want to play that game.
“Normally the pace improves everywhere else around the track,” Taylor said. “That’s why Turn 9 always bites you at the end because the rears start to drop. That corner is always rear-limited. You get it around there and it’s like, ‘I hope I can hold it.’”
Taylor and his No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 DPi were 0.346 seconds faster than runner-up Olivier Pla in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura he shares with Dane Cameron.
Taylor’s lap put the No. 10 car and teammate Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 1 starting position for Friday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race as they continue to lead the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) standings at the season’s halfway point. The Motul Pole Award effort also came less than a week after Taylor won the pole for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.
Taylor’s best lap came Thursday immediately after a bad one.
“The lap before I completely messed it up, but in that (pole-winning) lap, I happened to survive a little bit better,” Taylor said. “It generally does. Once I survived on that last lap, you just kind of bring it home. The last two corners are pretty straightforward.”
Kevin Magnussen had the third-fastest lap, bringing the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi V.R he co-drives with Renger van der Zande home in 1:30.545.
As Taylor won the DPi pole, Ben Keating used the final lap to slip past Steven Thomas for the pole position in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2). Keating’s effort of 1:34.969 (128.884 mph) was just enough to top Thomas’ best of 1:35.392, which he’d used to top Keating on the previous lap.
“Is there a time limit on how long I can talk?” Keating asked before embarking on a lengthy explanation during the post-qualifying press conference.
Keating and teammate Mikkel Jensen will start first in class and seventh overall in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07. Thomas and co-driver Tristan Nunez will start second in LMP2 and eighth overall in the No. 11 WIN Autosport. Thomas, Nunez and Thomas Merrill teamed to win the Sahlen’s Six Hours on Sunday.
“I feel like I pulled off heroic sectors for the last two sectors,” Keating said. “I threw it into the Bus Stop faster than I’ve ever driven through there. I went flat around the Carousel. I went flat through the last two turns. … I could not believe that I pulled it off.”
Mateo Llarena claimed the pole for Performance Tech Motorsports in Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3), putting the No. 38 Ligier JS P320 for him and teammate Rasmus Lindh at the head of the class with a lap of 1:42.633 (119.259 mph).
“It was quite good,” Llarena said. “We didn’t expect to get it because we were struggling … with the changing conditions. So, we really didn’t know like where we would start. I pushed all the way. The car was great and I managed to get a very good lap.”
Jon Bennett and Colin Braun will start second in LMP3 with the No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier.