In his first qualifying run ever as a Porsche works driver, Earl Bamber just smashed the GTLM-class pole position record at Road America. Bamber scored a lightning quick lap time of 2:02.384 around the 4.048-mile track.
According to Sportscar365, John Edwards held the previous record of 2:03.747, which was set last year in the BMW Team RLL Z4.
This year, though, it’s the number 912 factory Porsche 911 RSR that sits on top of the GTLM class. GTLM is the faster of United SportsCar’s two GT-car classes, and breaking that record is no small feat.
Between breaking this record and winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Earl Bamber is having a spectacular year.
It’s clearly a good day for 911s, too, as another Porsche 911 scored the GTD-class pole. Patrick Lindsey drove the number 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America to the top in that class with a 2:09.370 lap time.
Lindsey shares the car with Spencer Pumpelly, who hopefully has better luck than he did in today’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race. Today, Pumpelly’s Porsche Cayman ran out of gas while in the lead on the last lap. Oof!
Meanwhile, in the prototype classes, Joey Hand scored the first pole of 2015 for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in the number 01 Riley-Ford Daytona Prototype. According to Sportscar365, his lap time of 1:56.452 was a full half a second faster than the next fastest P-class car. This is also Hand’s first pole position with the Ganassi team. Local Wisconsin driver James French got the PC-class pole with a last minute hail-mary run of 1:59.658.
Photo credits: Porsche
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