British Driver Picks Up Second Pole of the Season and Continues Red-Hot Run of Recent IMSA Success
By Holly Cain
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – From the opening minutes of qualifying for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, it was apparent the real question to settle was who would start second on the grid to the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.
British driver Jack Aitken continued a perfect weekend atop the speed charts, ultimately claiming Saturday’s Motul Pole Award with a Grand Touring Prototype class (GTP) record lap of 1 minute, 31.284 seconds (134.544 mph) around the famous 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International. Aitken’s lap eclipsed the previous record of 1:31.558 set by Renger van der Zande during qualifying last year.
It’s the fourth pole of Aitken’s career, second of the 2026 season and first at The Glen. It was also the 35th pole position for Cadillac since 2017.
The GTP championship leader will share the front row with the defending race winning No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06. Tom Blomqvist was 0.197 seconds off Aitken’s best time with a lap of 1:31.481 (134.254 mph). Louis Deletraz was third fastest in the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, only 0.006 seconds behind Blomqvist’s effort at 1:31.487 (134.245).
“I think all of Whelen Cadillac have been on a great roll, so nothing has really changed in the last few races,’’ Aitken said, acknowledging the team is riding some good momentum right now.
The No. 31 has finished on podium every race this season and is riding a modern-day GTP record seven consecutive podium finishes dating back to the final two races of the 2025 season.
“This is certainly a place I wanted to get pole since we came so close last year,’’ said Aitken. “I wasn’t massively confident and try not to be too optimistic going into these things. We saw the (No.) 5 (JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963) was very quick in (Practice) 2 and a bunch of other cars in the mix as well and it’s very easy to make a mistake around here. It invites you to push a lot and you can trip over yourself. So, I just try to take it steady and get a clean lap in and that turned out to be quite a good one.”
The session marked the first time around the 11-turn circuit following a course modification that was necessitated after an incident in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race earlier Saturday afternoon. The curbing at the entrance to the track’s famed “inner loop” chicane came up toward the end of that two-hour race requiring track workers to remove it.
Ultimately qualifying for the six-hour race was pushed back about three hours to allow for repairs. While the GTD PRO and GTD class drivers said it was a notable change in the feel of the track, Aitken downplayed the effect for the GTP cars.
“It was okay, it’s a tough one to adjust going into qualifying – any type of track changes halfway through a weekend is never ideal but I think IMSA did a good job under the circumstances,’’ Aitken said. “It hasn’t changed the line a huge amount for us. Some of the GT guys can cut it a lot more now but we don’t have the clearance for that. … I’m not going to be the first try it.’’
Of note, the front row sets up an interesting storyline between the Cadillac and Acura that essentially settled the overall win last year on a dramatic final three minutes of the six-hour race. The race-leading No. 31 Cadillac had to peel off track and pit for fuel before the final restart leaving Blomqvist to take the lead on track with only two laps remaining to claim the trophy in the No. 60 Acura.
“It was obviously a tough race in a way,” Blomqvist said, of the many yellows and changing weather conditions between a wet and dry track. He said the team’s plan all along was to save fuel and ultimately they had just over one percent of fuel remaining post-race.
“That whole thing at the end just happened at the right time,’’ Blomqvist said. “It was a pretty good job from the crew to kind of make that call early enough. Stuff like that doesn’t happen at the time, it happens earlier.
“A number of factors that actually went into that victory, but luck, obviously that’s racing. You’ve got to make sure you’re on the right side of it. So it was really cool.’’
LMP2: Clarke Scores Third Career Pole in LMP2 Qualifying
In one of the more dramatic qualifying sessions of the day, American Jeremy Clarke claimed the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) Motul Pole Award in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 setting a best lap of 1 minute, 35.124 seconds (129.113 mph) with just over two minutes remaining in the 15-minute session.
Clarke’s work bettered the mark set by PJ Hyett in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 by only 0.164 of a second. Hyett had a tall task to claim pole anyway having received a penalty for a practice session incident earlier in the day. Still, Clarke said he fully expected a day’s long battle with the No. 99 considering how tight the 11-car class is.
“PJ is very strong and you saw in P2 [second practice] we were separated by only three-thousandths of a second,’’ Clarke said. “He and I are always very close and it’s just always going to be a battle between us for sure.’’
The effort marks both Clarke’s and the team’s third pole position. The top four cars in the LMP2 class were separated by only 0.753 seconds.
“Great start for the team and I think it’s going to come down to surviving those first couple stints tomorrow,’’ said Clarke, who noted that unlike the GTP class, the new curbing – or lack thereof – in the inner loop would change the line substantially.
“I think with the new line we can be a bit more aggressive going into the brake zone where we have a bit more space now,’’ Clarke allowed.
The defending Watkins Glen-winning No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07 will start third in the 11-car class.
Green flag Sunday is 12:10 noon (ET) on Peacock, YouTube and IMSA.TV.