After seeing its seven-race pole sweep streak come to an end at the Nürburgring, Aston Martin Racing has returned to the top of the qualifying time charts, with the British manufacturer taking GTE-Pro pole for Saturday’s Six Hours of Circuit of The Americas.
Dempsey Proton Racing, meanwhile, claimed its first career GTE-Am pole on home soil with American drivers Patrick Long and Patrick Dempsey handling qualifying duties.
A two-lap average of 2:05.872 by the No. 99 Aston Martin of Richie Stanaway and Fernando Rees was good enough for the top spot in GTE-Pro, thanks to a late flyer by the Kiwi.
The pairing, who will team with Alex MacDowall tomorrow, outpaced the No. 91 Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR of Nürburgring class winners Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen by 0.262 seconds.
It was the No. 99 Aston’s third pole of the season, with the sister No. 97 entry, driven this weekend by Darren Turner and Jonny Adam, set to line up third in class thanks to a 2:06.272 average.
The No. 95 Aston Martin and No. 92 Porsche completed the top-five in class.
Long and Dempsey rocketed to the GTE-Am pole, thanks to a 2:06.374 by the American Porsche factory driver on his final flying lap of the 20-minute qualifying session.
It marked Dempsey’s first career pole in his sports car racing career.
Marco Seefried will join the duo in the No. 77 Porsche tomorrow, as the trio seek their first WEC class victory.
Long bumped the No. 96 Aston Martin of Stuart Hall and Benny Simonsen from provisional pole, with the British entry ending up second in class, nearly two-tenths behind.
The Six Hours of COTA gets underway Saturday at 6 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 2.
RESULTS: Qualifying
