The starting order is set for Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans.

There was only one session for the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship on Friday. It is the session that everyone looks forward to. The final qualifying session of the year was an opportunity for teams in championship contention to strengthen or shorten gaps (slightly) in their respective battles. So who had their car best dialed for a fast lap around Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta?

GTP: The Tom Blomqvist Show

As the big guns took to the track under mostly sunny skies, the first five minutes was for the warming up of the Michelin tires. Then Tom Blomqvist took over. He threw down the gauntlet with seven minutes to go with a 1:09.8 only to shave two tenths his next lap. Blomqvist’s pole time of 1:09.628 sets a new qualifying lap record for Road Atlanta. Jack Aitken and Nick Yelloly were the only drivers that could get with Blomqvist’s zip code. Aitken got within two tenths while Yelloly got within three tenths. For the #60 crew, it is their first pole position of the season.

Felipe Nasr was the best of the Porsches, qualifying the #7  in fourth position. More importantly, the manufacturers championship is officially a heads up battle. Acura’s fourth pole of the season nets them another 35 points. With Porsche scoring 28, that now erases the seven point gap and are level going into Saturday. First car across the line wins.

GTP shows how close and competitive these cars are. The top 10 in the class are separated by three quarters of a second. Outside the previously mentioned top 4 was the best qualifying session for the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Give a call to Ross Gun who laid a 1:10.254 to qualify fifth. Aston Martin is definitely playing to their strengths with the high speed nature of Road Atlanta. While Heart of Racing have to be elated, the same can’t be said for BMW. Dries Vanthoor could only qualify ninth with teammate Sheldon van der Linde unable to do better.

Critically, with Mathieu Jaminet qualifying sixth, that means another 3 points lost for the #24 team. BMW’s slim chances of snatching the title just got shorter.On the flip side, Nasr’s fourth means he and teammate Nick Tandy gained 3 points on their teammates. Jaminet and Matt Campbell in the #6 Porsche will go into raceday with a 128 point advantage. For Vanthoor and Eng, their 148 point margin means they need the #6 Porsche to drop out early and finish last for them to have a chance.

LMP2: TDS Feeling Momentum

At the start of the session, all seemed normal. The Bronze rated drivers put in their banker laps and then proceed to push harder. Steven Thomas found the perfect line first halfway through the session. The TDS Racing driver put down a 1:13.157 to go fastest over PJ Hyett. Hyett himself put down a solid 1:13.4 to go second. As everyone began to push harder, some went over the limit.

With 5 minutes to go, George Kurtz crashed his #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca at the exit of the Esses. The accident caused a red flag, which means Kurtz will lose his two fastest laps. Effectively, this will put Kurtz at the back of the field. To add insult to injury, the team was working on the car during the quick red. As a result, the team lost all their laps.

After a quick red flag, the field was released for one last attack with two and a half minutes left. Everyone took the opportunity to put a lap to top Thomas’s time, but to no avail. Thomas secured his second pole of the season by a quarter second over Jeremy Clarke in the InterEuropol Oreca. PJ Hyett and AO Racing were relegated to third. Hyett lost his fastest lap as a result of AO Racing bringing out a red flag during Thursday practice. There is a silver lining for AO as they outqualified Dan Goldburg in the #22 for United Autosports. Hyett’s late banker laps gives AO Racing an extra 2 point cushion going into Saturday’s title decider. The aforementioned Goldburg and Nick Boulle in the sister United Autosports #2 round out the Top 5.

GTD PRO: Harper seizes Pole

Like Ferrari in GTD, BMW will get a small boost out of GTD PRO qualifying as Dan Harper inherits GTD PRO pole position. Albert Costa set a nice 1:18.4 to go fastest in the session. Due to the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari causing a red flag in one of the Thursday practice sessions, Costa would lose his fastest lap. Nevertheless, Costa put in a nice run of four laps – all within four tenths – to salvage the damage. His second fastest lap, a 1:18.7, would be good enough for forth.

With that being said, take nothing from Harper. The Brit put a series of fast laps together himself at the end of the session. His last lap of 1:18.5 was more than enough to secure pole. An excellent weekend for Vasser Sullivan continues at Aaron Telitz puts the #14 Lexus second. Nicky Catsburg rounded out the top 3 with the #4 Corvette. Laurin Heinrich and AO Racing round the top 5 in GTD PRO.

Speaking of Corvette, critically, where was the #3? Antonio Garcia could only get to eighth on the time sheets. Therefore, the championship leader’s margin has only gotten slimmer. Pending additional penalties from qualifying, Costa will go into race day only 13 points behind Garcia and Sims. This will be a battle everyone will be watching all day Saturday.

GTD: Ferrari all dialed in

With an opportunity to take the manufacturer’s crown in GTD, Ferrari pulled out the stops in qualifying. Cetilar Racing will lead the GTD field to green on Saturday. An excellent lap from Lorenzo Patrese (son of F1 grand prix winner Riccardo) midway through the session would be the benchmark that no one else would top. How excellent was Patrese’s 1:18.316? He was the fastest GT qualifier beating out the GTD PRO field. Cetilar lead a Ferrari 1-2 in GTD with the #021 Triarsi Ferrari of Riccardo Agostini coming in three tenths behind.

A brilliant performance by Lilou Wadoux and AF Corse means there are three Ferraris in the top 4 in GTD for Saturday’s start. Aston Martin grabbed third and sixth thanks to Valentin Hasse-Clot and Casper Stevenson. Championship leaders Philip Ellis and Winward Racing qualified fifth in their Mercedes. With a 225 point lead, as long as they start and are not the first car out tomorrow, the GTD title will be theirs.

After qualifying, Ferrari claw another 9 points in the GTD manufacturers championship. If Ferrari keep their pace and stay up front, Mercedes may be in trouble. Nevertheless, a seventh place finish is all Mercedes needs for the title.