In the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class, Steven Thomas posted the benchmark time of 1:17.571 in the No. 11 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 to secure the class Pole Award.
His team kept him posted over the radio as other drivers took their best shots to unseat him from the top spot, with Patrick Kelly in PR1 Mathiasen’s similar No. 52 ORECA coming closest with a 1:17.628 in the closing moments of the 15-minute qualifying session.
“This feels pretty darn good,” said Thomas. “The car was moving all over the place. For a ‘gentleman driver’ to hang on to go fast, you’ve got to be willing to slide the car here. I think that was the key at the end of the day to going fast.
“I wasn’t expecting an easy time,” he continued. “My teammate, Jonathan Bomarito, has a lot more experience than me, and he really helped me. I think I was fastest in both practices, but it was a narrow margin. So, I thought it was going to be a total shootout, which is a lot of fun. I said, ‘Bring it on!’”
