INDIANAPOLIS — Tom Blomqvist secured his second consecutive pole position for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, providing a sentimental boost for an Acura program nearing its finish line.
Blomqvist, a former NTT IndyCar Series driver, clocked a top lap of 1 minute, 14.674 seconds in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06. He will share the car with Colin Braun for Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute race. The performance comes as Acura prepares to exit the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the end of the season, a move announced in April.
“The car has been giving me good confidence in key areas around here, which just unlocks lap time,” Blomqvist said in a news release from IMS. “Coming toward the last couple of races of the program, so to get small little wins is obviously nice for everyone.”
Blomqvist will lead the field to green alongside Jack Aitken, who qualified second in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R with a time of 1:14.975. Dries Vanthoor took third for BMW M Team WRT at 1:15.073.
Inclement weather played a significant role in the afternoon’s schedule. Lightning in the area delayed the prototype sessions and forced the cancellation of qualifying for the GT Daytona PRO (GTD PRO) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes. Those grids will be set by team point standings, placing the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 on the GTD PRO pole and the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 atop the GTD field.
In the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class, Jeremy Clarke earned the top spot with a lap of 1:17.555 for Inter Europol Competition.
