Race Weekend Central

Dane Cameron Wins Road Race Showcase Pole

Acura Team Penske’s Dane Cameron continued to assert his dominance Saturday (Aug. 3) at Road America by claiming the pole for Sunday’s IMSA Road Race Showcase. Cameron’s lap of 134.046 mph is a new track record at the 4.048-mile road course.

While Cameron did win the pole, he only just squeaked it out. Cameron’s lap was less than two-hundredths of a second faster than teammate Helio Castroneves. Mazda Team Joest locked out the second row with Oliver Jarvis beating teammate Jonathan Bomarito. JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Simon Trummer will start fifth, best of the Cadillacs.

In LMP2, Matt McMurry turned in the fastest lap in class at 130.740 mph. However, he stopped on course and brought out a red flag. Per IMSA Sporting Regulations, you lose your best lap in a qualifying session if you bring out a red flag. As a result, Performance Tech Motorsports’ James French earned the pole with a lap at 130.071 mph.

The GT Le Mans session saw BMW Team RLL’s Tom Blomqvist show impressive pace. The first-year BMW pilot won the class pole with a lap at 121.093 mph, good for 13th overall. Blomqvist’s lap was three-tenths of a second faster than Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin. Jesse Krohn in the second BMW will start third, followed by the two Ford GTs, led by Ryan Briscoe.

The GT Daytona session was cut short due to what IMSA described as a “Level 3 Severe Weather Advisory.” What this means is that a pop-up thunderstorm cell formed close to the track and lightning was sighted. That forced a red flag and complete evacuation of the pit lane with five minutes to go.  The 10 minutes of action that occurred before the red flag was considered enough to qualify as an official session.

In the session, Riley Motorsports’ Ben Keating claimed the class pole in his Wynn’s Mercedes with a lap at 116.350 mph. That was a full four-tenths of a second faster than Paul Miller Racing’s Corey Lewis. Compass Racing’s Matt Plumb qualified third, the best outing so far for the new McLaren 720S GT3. PFAFF Motorsports’ Zacharie Robichon was fourth, while Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Trent Hindman will start fifth in his Acura.

IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP IMSA ROAD RACE SHOWCASE

The IMSA Road Race Showcase is scheduled to go green at 2:40 p.m. Sunday. Live coverage of the race is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App. Tape-delayed coverage will air on NBCSN at 6 p.m., immediately following coverage of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at the Glen.

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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