Race Weekend Central

Spencer Pumpelly Wins Lime Rock Park 120 Pole

Spencer Pumpelly went a long way towards pulling Rennsport One out of the funk they’ve been in recently by winning the overall pole for the Lime Rock Park 120 on Friday (July 20).  For Pumpelly, it is his third overall pole of 2018.  Given the tight confines of Lime Rock Park, getting a good starting spot is quite important.

“I think it is important (to be on the pole) here at Lime Rock Park because for one it is hard to pass here,” Pumpelly said after the session.  “We need to be in front to make our car go.  We need to try and keep the car in the front and not get shuffled back.  We have the right guys, we’ve got Rennsport One, we got this awesome Porsche and I have Dillon Mac[havern] to hop in tomorrow after me.  We have a lot of things in place and we just have to execute tomorrow.  We had great fans today and I appreciate every time I get to come here.  It just couldn’t be better.”

Pumpelly’s lap of 96.698 mph was the fastest CTSC lap of the entire day on Friday and it came on Pumpelly’s second lap at speed in the session.  As a result, it was a rather relaxing session for the Atlanta native.  He sat back for the final 10 minutes of the 15-minute session and watched everyone else press their luck.

TeamTGM’s Owen Trinkler got closest in his No. 46 Mercedes-AMG GT4, but he was still one-seventh of a second back.  Quest Racing’s Alexandre Premat qualified third in his Mercedes, followed by Murillo Racing’s Jeff Mosing.  CarBahn Motorsports’ Tyler McQuarrie was fifth quickest in his Audi R8 LMS GT4.

In TCR, eEuroparts.com Racing’s Tom O’Gorman continued to pour on the pace that he showed in Practice No. 2.  Much like Pumpelly in Grand Sport, it took only a couple of minutes for O’Gorman to set his best lap.  That lap, which was run at an average speed of 95.445 mph, was good enough for 11th overall.  Shortly afterwards, O’Gorman hit pit road to end his session.

The time held up to give O’Gorman his first career CTSC pole.  To give readers an idea of how the TCR cars differ in CTSC as compared to Pirelli World Challenge, the pole time back in May for TCR was over 2.3 seconds faster on the same circuit.  Tires likely play at least a partial role here, but a cut in power is likely also responsible.

O’Gorman’s lap was a half-second faster than anyone else in TCR when he posted it.  By the end of the session, it was more than a third of a second faster than Compass Racing’s Britt Casey Jr.  Unfortunately for O’Gorman, he won’t get to start in 11th.  IMSA rules require him to start behind all of the Grand Sport cars, so he’ll start 22nd.  Roadshagger Racing’s Jonathan Morley was third fastest, followed by JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Michael Johnson.  Compass Racing’s Rodrigo Sales was fifth quickest.

Nick Galante won the Street Tuner pole in his VeriStor-sponsored BMW 328i with a lap at 89.360 mph.  Afterwards, Galante explained to Frontstretch that the team struggled early on in the day with their car.  The BimmerWorld crew made changes that greatly improved the car.

Galante’s lap was eight-hundredths of a second faster than MINI JCW Team’s Colin Mullan.  Nate Norenberg in the No. 37 MINI will start third in ST.

IMSA CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTSCAR CHALLENGE LIME ROCK PARK 120 QUALIFYING RESULTS

The Lime Rock Park 120 is scheduled to go green at 11:10 a.m. EDT Saturday morning.  The race will be streamed live at IMSA.com and FansChoice.tv.

About the author

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.

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