Daniel Juncadella and Charlie Eastwood have been signed by TF Sport for the team’s 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign, their first as a Corvette Racing customer for the new Z06 GT3.R.

The team, which has raced in WEC since the 2018-2019 season, has historically been partnered with Aston Martin. However, with the new LMGT3 regulations mandating two cars per manufacturer and Aston having chosen to go down a different route with The Heart of Racing and D’Station, TF Sport needed a new partner.

That ;partner became Corvette, who in January unveiled the Z06 GT3.R as a replacement for the Corvette C8.R, which raced in the now-defunct GTE class in WEC competition. The Z06 GT3.R will be the first GT3 from the factory and will also be the first Corvette Racing car to be globally available.

Eastwood has raced with TF Sport for a few years, winning the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTE Am class for the team and the 2022 LMP2 pro/am champion in the European Le Mans Series.

“I am delighted to join TF Sport’s WEC campaign in the brand new Corvette Z06 GT3.R,” said the Irishman.

“It is an absolute honour to be an official Corvette driver and even more to race with the team I have been with since my first endurance race. 

“As always the WEC will be super competitive, but I know we have all the tools to aim for the championship. Qatar can’t come soon enough.”

Juncadella, meanwhile, is a newcomer to both the WEC and TF Sport, having previously raced with Mercedes-AMG in a variety of championships.

Both drivers have joined the Corvette Racing factory driver roster, with Juncadella leaving the employ of Mercedes-AMG as a result.

“I am enormously excited for this new chapter in my career,” said the Spaniard.

“Joining TF Sport for the 2024 WEC season is a dream come true. It will be my first time competing in WEC and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and I can’t wait to meet everyone in the team and get to work. The new Corvette Z06 GT3.R looks like a proper weapon, I look forward to get my hands on it!”

Finally, Tom Ferrier, TF Sport director, said: “It is an exciting new chapter for TF Sport with Corvette and we are very happy to welcome Daniel and Charlie to the team as our Pro drivers.”

Although he is new to us, Daniel needs no introduction: his results in GT3 speak for themselves. Charlie has been an integral part of TF Sport’s success and we are very happy to be able to continue this journey with him in our new challenge. 

“Both drivers bring speed and experience and know how to win and we couldn’t be happier with the choice of driver that GM has supplied us with”.

Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat will return to Vasser Sullivan to defend their IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship GTD Pro title, the team has confirmed.

Hawksworth has raced for Vasser Sullivan since 2019, whereas Barnicoat joined to partner Hawksworth in 2022. They took both their and the team’s first IMSA title in the GTD Pro class, driving the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 in the series, winning two races, at Long Beach and Watkins Glen, along the way.

They will be joined by Indycar driver Kyle Kirkwood for the IMSA Endurance Cup events, of which there will be six next year, starting with the Daytona 24 Hours in January.

The duo also tested the Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar at the FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test earlier this week, with Barnicoat the faster of the two, setting a 1:50.740 in the afternoon session.

“To say I am excited as we look to defend our GTD PRO title in 2024 would be an understatement,” Hawksworth said. 

“We have a great foundation and consistency within the Lexus and Vasser Sullivan team which will allow us to keep pushing forward, work on refining our processes and bettering ourselves as we prepare for the challenges we’ll face in 2024. 

“I couldn’t ask for better teammates than Ben (Barnicoat) and Kyle (Kirkwood), and to be surrounded by such a talented and dedicated group in the garage and on the pit stand is special.”

Meanwhile, Barnicoat said: “2023 was such a special year, and I’ve never enjoyed my racing as much, and it’s for this reason I’m delighted to continue working with all the incredible staff involved with our program.” 

“The GTD PRO class is set to grow next year, which is great for the series and for our Lexus Racing fans who will be watching us and supporting us every step of the way as we take the fight to our rivals. The goal is clear, to defend the title, and I can’t wait to get to business at Daytona.”

Brendon Hartley and Colton Herta will race for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti in the IMSA Endurance Cup rounds of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, the team has announced.

Hartley, a four time FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Championship and three-times Le Mans winner, has driven for the team in the past, mostly notably at Petit Le Mans in 2022 and at Daytona 24 Hours in 2023, where he finished runner up. 

It’s a similar scenario for Herta, a full season Indycar driver with Andretti — although he’s never raced for WTRAndretti, he’s no stranger to IMSA, having raced at Daytona every year since 2019 in a variety of classes. Most notably, he raced with BMW Team RLL in the GTP class, in a BMW M Hybrid V8, this year at Daytona, finishing sixth. He’s also won the race twice in class, in 2019 in GTLM and 2022 in LMP2.

Hartley will join Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Acura ARX-06, while Herta will race alongside the returning Jordan Taylor, fresh from his time with Corvette Racing, and Louis Deletraz, in the sister #40 Acura. For the first time, WTRAndretti will run two GTP cars as it looks to expand its racing activities in the top IMSA class.

“It’s exciting that we’ve managed to get the services of Brendon Hartley again and Colton Herta as our third drivers who will be doing the IMEC,” said Wayne Taylor, WTRAndretti team principal.

“Brendon has driven for us before, and we’ve got to know him really well,” the South African continued.

“Obviously, Colton is a part of the Andretti Global group which opened the door for us with him. He’s won Daytona in an GT car and drove a LMDh car last year and did a really good job. I’m really excited about having both Brendon and Colton on board.”

Hartley, meanwhile, was buoyant about returning to WTRAndretti. “I really enjoyed my time with WTRAndretti at Petit last year and Daytona this year, so I jumped at the opportunity to compete in the endurance races in 2024 when Wayne called me. WTRAndretti knows how to win and going to a two-car team will strengthen the whole operation even further,” he said.

And finally, Herta was similarly enthusiastic about linking up with WTRAndretti. “It’s super exciting to join such a prestigious team like WTRAndretti for the endurance events. They’ve shown how successful they can be in the past and I’m looking forward to hopefully adding to that!” said the American.

The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship begins with the Roar Before The 24 testing on 19th-21st January, before the Daytona 24 Hours on January 25-28th.

Sebastien Buemi leads an hour in at the FIA World Endurance Championship’s season finale, the 8 Hours of Bahrain, after chaos at the start saw his teammate Mike Conway drop down below the LMP2s.

Buemi, in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, started on pole with Conway beside him in the sister #7 Toyota. However, Earl Bamber, in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R, locked up under pressure from #50 Ferrari 499P’s Miguel Molina, with the Kiwi unable to stop his car or turn in for the first corner.

This saw Bamber go into Conway’s Toyota, turning the white, red and black car around. The cars behind had to take avoiding action, with the two Ferraris of Molina and teammate Alessandro Pier Guidi in the other #51 Ferrari take P2 and P3. They later swapped positions as Molina was on a different strategy, saving tyres.

Buemi is currently 18s ahead of Pier Guidi. Conway has recovered to third, after overtaking Will Stevens, fourth in the #38 JOTA Porsche 963. Stevens had just overtaken Molina at turn 1, enabling Conway to overtake the Spaniard towards turn 4, putting Molina down in fifth.

In LMP2, Gabriel Aubry leads, behind the wheel of the #10 Vector Sport Oreca 07-Gibson, after polesitter Tom Blomqvist got punted by the #4 Vanwall Vandervell 680 at the start, dropping the Brit down the field. Aubry is over 26 seconds ahead of Filip Urgan in the #9 Prema Oreca 07-Gibson. Third is Sean Galeal in the #31 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson.

Polesitter Sarah Bovy is in control of the GTE-Am class, at the wheel of the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19, although she did lose the lead to her teammate Matteo Cressoni for a little while. WEC debutant Liam Talbot is second in the #777 D’Station Aston Martin Vantage AMR, 13 seconds back, while Ahmad Al Harthy is third in the #25 ORT by TF Aston Martin.

Brendon Hartley has taken pole for Toyota for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s season finale, the 8 Hours of Bahrain, almost half a second ahead of his teammate, Kamui Kobayashi.

Both Toyota drivers exited the pits later than the other Hypercars. The #2 Cadillac V-Series.R of Alex Lynn initially took provisional pole with a 1:47.265, but Toyota dashed Cadillac’s hopes of a maiden WEC pole. 

First Hartley set a 1:46.564 in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, seven tenths faster than Lynn. Kobayashi then came through shortly after to take second in the sister #7 Toyota, albeit 0.489 off his teammate.

While it’s not pole, third is still Cadillac’s best WEC qualifying result ever. Lynn was 0.447 faster than the #6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre, while the two Ferraris, Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari 499P ahead of #51’s Alessandro Pier Guidi, could only manage fifth and sixth.

Fred Makowiecki took seventh in the sister #5 Porsche, with Gimmi Bruni in the #99 Proton Porsche 963 in eighth. Will Stevens took ninth in the #38 JOTA Porsche 963, with the two Peugeots of Paul di Resta and Nico Muller 10th and 11th. The Vanwall of Esteban Guerrieri rounded out Hypercar in 12th.

United Autosports’ Tom Blomqvist claimed LMP2 pole, almost three tenths ahead of nearest challenger Charles Milesi.

Blomqvist went top early in the session and wasn’t challenged from thereon in. He went fastest than the initial fastest driver, #10 Vector Sport Oreca 07-Gibson’s Gabriel Aubry, and then beat his own time to set pole, a 1:52.290.

Milesi, in the #36 Alpine Oreca 070-Gibson, went second late on in the session, but was still 0.271 off Blomqvist. Robin Frijns took third at the wheel of the #31 Team WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, over six tenths off Blomqvist.

In GTE-Am, Sarah Bovy took pole for the Iron Dames in the final ever GTE qualifying session. 

The Belgian controlled much of the session, setting her time with roughly half of the 12 minutes to go in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19. 

#33 Corvette C8.R’s Ben Keating set the initial representative lap time, but this was soon beaten by Ahmad Al Harthy in the #25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR, and then Kessel Racing’s Takeshi Kimura in the #57 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO.

However, Bovy then set her pole time, a 1:58.692, almost half a second faster than Kimura, now in second.

The Japanese driver wasn’t there for long, though. Al Harthy came through with a faster lap, just one thousandth faster than Kimura.

As the tyres started falling away from the drivers, amy more improvements seemed unlikely. That was before anyone had banked on WEC debutant, Liam Talbot, putting in a lap to go second in the #777 D’Station Aston Martin Vantage AMR.

This, then, led to final top 5 of Bovy, Talbot 0.290 behind, then Al Harthy with Kimura just 0.001 off. Keating took fifth, 0.720 off Bovy.

Valentino Rossi will drive a Team WRT Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 car at the FIA World Endurance Championship Bahrain rookie test, the day after the season-closing 8 Hours of Bahrain, the team has announced.

The Italian is best known for his exploits in motorcycle racing, winning nine motorcycle world championships, with seven of those in the premier MotoGP class. However, since retiring from MotoGP in 2021, he’s taken up race driving, racing an Audi R8 LMS EVO II for WRT, switching to the BMW M4 GT3 when WRT split from Audi after 2022.

This year he’s raced in the GT World Challenge alongside Maxime Martin for WRT in the M4 GT3, winning a race in the Sprint Cup at Misano. He and Martin finished fifth in the standings in the Sprint Cup, as well as finishing 15th in the Endurance Cup, where he and Martin were joined by Augusto Farfus.

Rossi was made a BMW factory driver earlier this year, and has made no secret of the fact he wants to race at Le Mans in the future.

He’ll be joined at the rookie test for WRT by fellow BMW factory driver Charles Weerts, who also races for WRT. This will be Rossi’s first chance to sample LMP2 machinery.

The rookie test will take place on Sunday 5th November, with two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Alongside Rossi will be drivers taking part in all three classes, with Lilou Wadoux and Robert Shwartzmann driving the Ferrari 499P, Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat in ther Toyota GR010- Hybrid, and many more.

Lilou Wadoux and Robert Shwartzman will test a Le Mans-winning Ferrari 499P next month at the FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test, which will take place at Bahrain after the 8 Hours of Bahrain the day before.

Silver-rated Wadoux, and platinum-rated Shwartzman, have been associated with Ferrari for a few years, with Wadoux being the first female Ferrari factory driver. Shwartzman, meanwhile, has tested for the Ferrari F1 team this year, in addition to driving for AF Corse in the GT World Challenge Europe series.

In addition to Ferrari, young American Josh Pierson, plus Brits Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat, will test the Toyota GR010. The latter two won this year’s IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship’s GTD Pro class title in the Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. They’ll be joined by Jose Maria Lopez, an existing GR010 race driver.

Porsche will test Thomas Preining in the Penske-run factory 963, who just last week won the DTM championship driving for Manthey, plus Pietro Fittipaldi in the JOTA-run Porsche 963, while Rene Binder and Julien Andlauer will test Proton’s 963.

Nico Varrone, who alongside Ben Keating and Nicky Catsburg won the WEC GTE drivers’ title this year, will test Cadillac’s V-Series.R. He’ll be joined by young Barbadian Kyffin Simpson, who has been making waves both in the European Le Mans Series and Indy Lights.

Over at Peugeot, current young driver for the French squad Malthe Jakobsen will test the 9X8, alongside 2024 race driver Stoffel Vandoorne. They’ll be joined by existing Peugeot race driver Mikkel Jensen.

And finally in Hypercar, Job van Uitert will test the Vanwall Vandervell 680, alongside current Vanwall driver Esteban Guerrieri.

In LMP2, PJ Hyett, Harry Tincknell, and Paul-Loup Chatin will test for Prema, with Daniel Schnieder in the United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson, and Clement Novalak in the Inter Europol Competition machine.

Christoph Ulrich will test a Ferrari 488 GTE EVO for AF Corse, with Nicky Catsburg doing double duty as he’ll drive the Corvette C8.R he’s been racing this year, providing a benchmark for Antoine Doquin, who will also test the car. Nicola Marinangelli will test another AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO, as well as Lorenzo Patrese. 

Cadillac’s Sebastien Bourdais leads the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship’s Petit Le Mans with 2 hours to go, with a close battle between all four GTP manufacturers.

Bourdais, in the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R, took over from his teammate, Indycar legend Scott Dixon. The Kiwi led the race for the large part of an hour, before losing it to Louis Deletraz in the pit stop cycle, with the Swiss driver behind the wheel of the #10 Wayne Taylor Acura ARX-06.

The two dueled for the lead amongst high levels of traffic, but Deletraz used the slower cars to his advantage to grow a lead of a couple of seconds. A full course yellow and subsequent safety car, for Laurens Vanthoor crashing the struggling #6 Porsche 963, and also the #11 TDS Oreca 07-Gibson of Mikkel Jensen — which means, due to the car’s later retirement, Jensen and co-driver Steven Thomas lose the championship — put pause on the GTP lead duel, and Deletraz lost the lead to Dixon in the ensuing pit stops.

Dixon then led the race but pitted and swapped with Bourdais. Jack Aitken, in the #31 Action Express Cadillac, sat second, with #60 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06’s Tom Blomqvist third, before Deletraz took the position to move back into the podium positions.

The most recent yellow was called for Andy Lally’s stricken #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, with Lally beaching the car and needing to be pulled out by the marshals. However, Bourdais was able to retain the lead at the subsequent pit stops and restart, and has pulled out a lead of around 4 seconds over Aitken, giving Cadillac a 1-2 with 2 hours remaining.

Deletraz’s teammate Filipe Albuquerque is third in the #10 Acura, just a few tenths behind Aitken.

In LMP2, Alex Quinn leads the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07-Gibson, with Nolan Siegel second in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca. Third is Josh Pierson, on board the #35 TDS Oreca. The #11 TDS’s retirement means Quinn’s teammates, Ben Keating and Paul-Loup Chatin, are on course to win the LMP2 IMSA championship.

Garett Grist leads LMP3 in the #30 Jr III Ligier JS P320-Nissan, with Felipe Fraga second, at the wheel of the #74 Riley Ligier. Third is the first of the Duqueines, the #13 AWA Duqueine D08-Nissan of Lars Kern.

Jordan Pepper is leading the GTD Pro class and the two classes GT overall, in the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Behind him is the leading GTD car, Mike Skeen in the #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3, with Alex Riberas the next GTD Pro, driving the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Second in GTD and fourth GT overall is Thomas Merrill, in the #97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. Third in GTD Pro is #9 Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3 R’s Patrick Pilet. And third in GTD is Gunnar Jeannette in the #80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Sebastien Bourdais, behind the wheel of the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R, is leading the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship’s season finale, Petit Le Mans, after a frantic first two hours, which has included four caution periods and three safety cars.

Louis Deletraz, in the #10 Wayne Taylor Acura ARX-06, started on pole but lost the lead to Bourdais at the start. However, the race wasn’t green for long, as Ari Balogh in the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07-Gibson spun and crashed his car only a few minutes into the race. A full course yellow was thrown and the rsce soon restarted again, after the car was loaded onto a flatbed.

Bourdais retained the lead and got a decent jump on Deletraz, but the race once again wasn’t green for long. Ferrari factory driver Antonio Fuoco,driving the #47 Cetilar Ferrari 296 GT3, got a pubcture while trying to pass the #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3, meaning another full course yellow was called, followed by a safety car to bunch the field together.

Many GTPs pitted, but Bourdais and Deletraz stayed out. Meanwhile, in LMP2, Ben Keating in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07-Gibson, had been growing his lead but had this slashed under the safety car.

At the restart, Pipo Derani in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R lost three places with the Brazilian getting a slow start as he had to check up behind Deletraz, who was again cautious. It was, however, the Brazilian who lost out, going from third to sixth at the first corner, with #60 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06’s Tom Blomqvist now third.

Over in the two GT classes, GTD Pro and GTD, young Frenchwoman Doriane Pin lead overall in the GTD-entered #83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, from the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth. Hawksworth and his teammate Ben Barnicoat won the GTD Pro championship as soon as the green flag flew, with no one able to mathematically catch them in the points after this race.

Deletraz, meanwhile, caught Bourdais by virtue of better luck in traffic and, down the back straight, passed the veteran Frenchman on the inside into the chicane. At the first hour these two led, with Blomqvist third.

However, soon after there was yet another yellow after a 3-car incident on the way down to the chicane. Dennis Andersen, driving the #20 High Class Oreca 07-Gibson, tipped Charles Scardina in the #023 Triarsi Ferrari 296 GT3 into a spin. 

Scardina’s Ferrari subsequently collected Brendan Iribe in the #70 Inception McLaren 720s GT3 Evo and, with GTP title implications, Nick Tandy in the #6 Porsche 963. All three cars ended up in the gravel trap, but Andersen managed to get away — despite causing the whole thing. He would later get a drive through penalty plus a 120 second stop/go penalty for causing an avoidable accident.

Once the mess was cleared, many GTPs pitted, although most had with the exception of Bourdais, who was leading. Former leader Deletraz was at the back as he had pitted early. However, he retook the lead when he didn’t pit under caution. Bourdais, meanwhile, lost out as he had to do a full fuel fill, while others did not.

At the restart, Deletraz led from Blomqvist and Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche 963. This order was retained but soon, another caution period was called as Deletraz and Blomqvist battled for the lead. Blomqvist then pushed Corey Lewis, in the #1 Paul M<iller BMW M4 GT3, into the wall while lapping the American after the chicane.

Also under the current yellow, contact was made between Sheldon van der Linde in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 and Alexander Sims, who had taken over the #31 Action Express Cadillac from Derani. Both ran through the red light with van der Linde rear ending Sims as the Brit stopped suddenly at pit out.

So, with the race having just restarted, Bourdais leads from the #5 JDC Miller Porsche 963 of Mike Rockenfeller. Third is Marco Wittmann in the #24 BMW, with Nasr’s teammate Matt Campbell fourth in the #7 Porsche. Deletraz’s teammate Ricky Taylor is fifth in the #10 Waytne Taylor Acura.

In LMP2, Keating’s teammate Alex Quinn leads in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca. George Kurtz is second in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca, with Steven Thomas third in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca.

Bijoy Garg is leading LMP3, in the #30 Jr III Ligier JS P320-Nissan, with Anthony Mantella second in the #17 AWA Duqueine D08-Nissan. Josh Burdon is third in the #74 Riley Ligier.

Jules Gounon is top of GTD Pro, in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, with Kevin Estre following him in the #9 Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3 R. Kyle Kirkwood is third in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC GT3.

Finally, in GTD, Russell Ward, behind the wheel of the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, leads the class. Patrick Liddy, in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT£ EVO2, is second, with Kenton Koch in the #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3 third.

Louis Deletraz has taken pole for the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship’s Petit Le Mans, in the #10 Wayne Taylor Acura ARX-06, with the Swiss driver setting a 1:15.402.

It was an incredibly hard fought GTP qualifying session, with the provisional polesitter changing almost too frequently to count. 

The 20 minute session for the top class prototypes started off raining, with most teams scrubbing in a set of dry tyres for the race, then pitting for a set of wet treaded tyres. The times were very slow for the first 10 minutes, slower even than the slowest GTD cars, which had qualified earlier in drier conditions.

However, in the second half of the session, with all cars on wets, the times came tumbling now, with Augusto Farfus in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 being the first driver to go under 1:20, with a 1:19.904. 

All four manufacturers subsequently had a car at the top of times at some point in the remaining 10 minutes. With around 5 minutes to go, cars started pitting to get a new set of wet tyres, as the track conditions stabilised.

With new sets of tyres, the cars started to go for their final laps. Sebastien Bourdais, onboard the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R, set a 1:15.632, but Deletraz was able to beat him by just over two tenths to take pole in the Konica Minolta-sponsored Acura.

With Deletraz on pole and Bourdais alongside him, third went to Farfus in the RLL-run BMW. Fourth was the #60 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist, just a few hundredths off Farfus. Blomqvist topped the timesheets through the session more than once, but ultimately couldn’t muster the same pace as Deletraz.

Fifth was Nick Tandy in the #6 Porsche 963, the quickest of the four cars from the German manufacturer. Tandy was on a quick final lap but lost time in the second sector, meaning he did not manage to improve. Sixth was Connor De Phillippi in the sister #25 BMW, while Felipe Nasr, in the #7 Porsche, was seventh, 

Pipo Derani in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R was eighth after losing it at the esses on his final lap, going off track through the motorcycle chicane.

Ninth was Mike Rockenfeller in the #5 JDC Miller Porsche 963, while the #59 Proton Porsche 963 had issues and did not complete a representative lap time.

Ben Keating took his 14th IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship pole, in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07-Gibson, with the American setting a 1:13.859 to beat Steven Thomas, in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, by just 20 thousandths of a second.

The entire session for the LMPs was dominated by Keating and Thomas battling it out for LMP2 pole, as it as been for much of this season. As the session wore on, the tyres got up to full temperature, and the fuel burned off, they cut their times by almost two seconds. 

George Kurtz did get a brief look in, briefly putting Keating down into third — before the car dealer beat him and went faster again. Kurtz went eventually qualify fourth, behind John Falb, who went third fastest in the sister #35 TDS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, 0.521 off Keating.

In LMP3, Glenn Van Berlo claimed class pole in the #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320-Nissan, lapping Road Atlanta in 1:16.674. Second was Rasmus Lindh in the #85 JDC Miller Duqueine D08-Nissan, 0.129 off Van Berlo. Third was Bijoy Garg, in the #30 Jr III Ligier JS P320-Nissan, a further 0.144 off.

In the two GT classes, GTD Pro and GTD, Ian James in the GTD-entered #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 was fastest overall, setting a 1:23.116. 

James was on slicks, which may explain the half a tenth gap between himself and Jack Hawksworth, in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, who was fastest in the GTD Pro class and second overall in GT. 

He set a 1:23.168 early on in the session, but was pipped by James for overall pole, with the Brit failing to go quicker later on. Third fastest overall was Mirko Bortolotti in the GTD Pro #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO, but the Italian would lose all his lap times after getting out of the car before qualifying ended.

This promoted teammate Doriane Pin to third overall, and second in GTD, in the #83 Iron Dames Lamborghini, setting a 1:23.795, a few tenths slower than Bortolotti’s disallowed time.

Third in GTD, and fourth overall, was Aaron Telitz in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, just over 7 tenths slower than James.

Second in GTD Pro, seventh overall, was Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette C8.R. Third, and ninth overall, was Jules Gounon in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.