Van Overbeek puts ESM on pole for Six Hours of The Glen

Van Overbeek puts ESM on pole for Six Hours of The Glen

Published Jul. 2, 2016 6:08 p.m. ET

Update: The No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS of Robin Liddell has lost its GT Daytona class pole for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

IMSA confirmed late Saturday that the car had a ride-height infraction, which was found in post-qualifying technical inspection. As a result, Liddell and co-driver Andrew Davis will start from the rear of the field.

It promotes the No. 23 The Heart of Racing/Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Mario Farnbacher to the GTD class pole, with Lawson Aschenbach’s No. 9 Stevenson Audi now set to line up second in class.

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The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen gets underway Sunday at 10:10 a.m. ET.

Johannes van Overbeek will start tomorrow's Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen from the overall pole, after taking his Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2 Honda to the top spot in qualifying Saturday at Watkins Glen.

Van Overbeek fired off a series of fast laps in the closing moments of the 15-minute Prototype session, with a 1:35.207 lap -- a new track qualifying record -- good enough to edge out a late charge from Tristan Nunez.

It marked the first pole of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season for the Scott Sharp-owned ESM squad, which heads into the third round of the Tequia Patron North American Endurance Cup on the heels of victories at Daytona and Sebring.

Van Overbeek will share driving duties in Sunday's race with Sharp and Brazilian sensation Pipo Derani.

Nunez put the No. 55 Mazda Prototype on the front row, thanks to a 1:35.374 lap time set on his final lap in the retro-liveried entry that has shown potential all weekend.

Ozz Negri, meanwhile, made it three P2 cars in the top-three in his No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier Honda. 

Ricky Taylor qualified his No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP fourth, more than a half-second behind, with the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Christian Fittipaldi completing the top-five.

Renger van der Zande claimed his first career WeatherTech Championship class pole in dominant fashion in Prototype Challenge.

The Starworks Motorsport driver reeled off a best lap of 1:38.407 in his No. 8 Oreca FLM09 on the final lap, outpacing the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry of Robert Alon by 0.804 seconds.

Van der Zande, who has one ALMS pole to his credit from 2013, will share the Starworks entry with Alex Popow tomorrow -- the only two-driver lineup in the class -- as they seek back-to-back class victories.

The No. 38 Performance Tech entry of James French qualified third, with Johnny Mowlem (BAR1 Motorsports) and Misha Goikhberg (JDC-Miller Motorsports) completing the top-five in class.

Richard Westbrook claimed Ford Chip Ganassi Racing's first GT Le Mans class pole in the series competition, on the heels of the manufacturer's triumph at Le Mans.

Westbrook, who had the No. 67 Ford GT all to himself up until now due to Ryan Briscoe's absence for the birth of his child, put in a 1:41.301, obliterating the previous GTLM pole record at Watkins Glen by nearly three seconds.

The battle between Ford and BMW in the practice sessions continued in qualifying, with BMW Team RLL ending up second and third on the grid.

Both manufacturers were the only ones to dip under the 1:42 barrier.

The No. 25 BMW M6 GTLM of Dirk Werner put in the second quickest time, 0.349 seconds slower than Westbrook's pole, with John Edwards third in the No. 100 BMW.

Joey Hand qualified the Le Mans GTE-Pro class-winning No. 66 Ford GT in fourth, while Alessandro Pier Guidi had to settle for fifth in the No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GTE, with the car receiving a warming for overboost.

Tommy Milner was quickest of the normally aspirated GTLM cars in sixth, nearly 1.5 seconds slower than the pole-sitting Ford.

The No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS of Robin Liddell has lost its GT Daytona class pole for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

IMSA confirmed late Saturday that the car had a ride-height infraction, which was found in post-qualifying technical inspection. As a result, Liddell and co-driver Andrew Davis will start from the rear of the field.

It promotes the No. 23 The Heart of Racing/Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Mario Farnbacher to the GTD class pole, with Lawson Aschenbach’s No. 9 Stevenson Audi now set to line up second in class.

Live coverage of the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen begins 10 a.m. ET Sunday on FS1.

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