United SportsCar Watkins Glen: Rain puts Action Express on pole
Qualifying for the Tudor United SportsCar Championship's six-hour race at Watkins Glen was cancelled due to heavy rain, putting Action Express pair Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi on pole
A downpour set in during the preceding Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge support race, and USC organisers decided not to attempt to start the qualifying session, instead setting the grid based on drivers' championship points.
Barbosa and Fittipaldi therefore share the front row with Spirit of Daytona's Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante, with whom they are tied for the Prototype class points lead.
The Michael Shank Racing Ligier had been quickest in all three practice sessions, but with qualifying abandoned drivers John Pew and Oswaldo Negri Jr will start sixth.
GTLM pole goes to Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, who are using a Corvette borrowed from customer team Larbre following their regular car's heavy crash in Le Mans 24 Hours qualifying earlier this month.
CORE Autosport's Jon Bennett, Colin Braun and James Gue have pole in PC, with Paul Miller Racing Audi trio Christopher Haase, Dion von Moltke and Bryce Miller leading the GTD field away.
The six-hour Watkins Glen event is the third round of the USC's North American Endurance Cup mini-series, which began with the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours, and concludes at Petit Le Mans in October.
STARTING GRID:
| Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | J.Barbosa, C.Fittipaldi | Action Express Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet |
| 2 | P | R.Westbrook, M.Valiante | visitflorida.com Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet |
| 3 | P | E.Curran, D.Cameron, M.Papis | Action Express Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet |
| 4 | P | R.Taylor, J.Taylor, M.Angelelli | Wayne Taylor Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet |
| 5 | P | J.Hand, S.Pruett | Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates | Riley/Ford |
| 6 | P | J.Pew, O.Negri | Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Ligier/HPD |
| 7 | P | T.Long, J.Miller, B.Devlin | Speedsource | Mazda |
| 8 | P | M.Rojas, K.Legge | Claro / TracFone DeltaWing Racing | DeltaWing/Elan |
| 9 | PC | J.Bennett, C.Braun, J.Gue | CORE Autosport | ORECA/Chevrolet |
| 10 | PC | M.Guasch, T.K.-Smith, A.Palmer | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | ORECA/Chevrolet |
| 11 | PC | M.Goikhberg, R.Mitchell, C.Miller | JDC-Miller Motorsports | ORECA/Chevrolet |
| 12 | PC | B.Junqueira, C.Cumming | RSR Racing | ORECA/Chevrolet |
| 13 | PC | J.French, J.Mee, C.Daly | Performance Tech Motorsports | ORECA/Chevrolet |
| 14 | PC | R.van der Zande, M.Hedlund, A.Popow | Starworks Motorsport | ORECA/Chevrolet |
| 15 | PC | M.Plowman, D.Burkett, M.McMurry | BAR1 Motorsports | ORECA/Chevrolet |
| 16 | GTLM | J.Magnussen, A.Garcia | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet |
| 17 | GTLM | B.Auberlen, D.Werner | BMW Team RLL | BMW |
| 18 | GTLM | J.M.Edwards, L.Luhr | BMW Team RLL | BMW |
| 19 | GTLM | P.Kaffer, G.Fisichella | Risi Competizione | Ferrari |
| 20 | GTLM | N.Tandy, P.Pilet | Porsche North America | Porsche |
| 21 | GTLM | O.Gavin, T.Milner | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet |
| 22 | GTLM | B.Sellers, W.Henzler | Team Falken Tire | Porsche |
| 23 | GTLM | J.Bergmeister, E.Bamber | Porsche North America | Porsche |
| 24 | GTD | C.Haase, D.von Moltke, B.Miller | Paul Miller Racing | Audi |
| 25 | GTD | C.Nielsen, K.Wittmer | TRG-AMR | Aston Martin |
| 26 | GTD | C.MacNeil, L.Keen, A.Davis | Alex Job Racing | Porsche |
| 27 | GTD | B.Sweedler, T.Bell | Scuderia Corsa | Ferrari |
| 28 | GTD | I.James, M.Farnbacher | Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing | Porsche |
| 29 | GTD | P.Lindsey, S.Pumpelly | Park Place Motorsports | Porsche |
| 30 | GTD | J.Potter, A.Lally, M.Seefried | Magnus Racing | Porsche |
| 31 | GTD | M.Marsal, M.Palttala | Turner Motorsport | BMW |
| 32 | GTD | B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen | Riley Motorsports | Dodge |
| 33 | GTD | M.Snow, J.Heylen | Wright Motorsports | Porsche |
| 34 | GTD | A.Carter, C.Lawrence, M.Goossens | Riley Motorsports | Dodge |
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