Kamui Kobayashi led the early times with a 1m09.685s lap in Action Express Racing’s Cadillac, before championship leader Ricky Taylor moved to the top with a 1m08.999s effort in the Wayne Taylor Racing.
Blomqvist responded in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura with a 1m08.734s, 0.232s faster than Taylor’s next effort, before the Blomqvist trimmed his best effort to 1m08.555s.
Taylor then hurt his efforts with an off at Turn 5, and would pit while in third.
The second driver who had usurped him was Bamber in the #02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac, albeit 0.233s behind Blomqvist.
Blomqvist’s third pole of the season ensured Acura has beaten Cadillac to the manufacturers’ championship, and also means that whichever Acura driver pairing finishes ahead in tomorrow’s 10-hour race will win the drivers’ championship.
In LMP2, Steven Thomas produced a fantastic lap to claim pole for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport but Dennis Andersen of High Class Racing was a mere 0.082s away. The second PR1M car of Ben Keating was a further three-tenths down, and just ahead of John Farano of Tower Motorsports.
Despite there being just eight LMP3 cars, they got the track to themselves, and the battle swiftly became a duel between Malthe Jakobsen of Sean Creech Motorsport and Kay van Berlo of Riley Motorsports.
Their battle got interrupted by two simultaneous incidents which brought out the red flag. Dan Goldburg spun the Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier at Turn 6, and Anthony Mantella dropped the AWA Duqueine at Turn 7.
When action resumed, van Berlo clipped over three-tenths from his fastest time to jump 0.06s ahead of Jakobsen, who would eventually come up just 0.108s short.
With GTD Pro and GTD cars on track simultaneously – 22 cars across the 2.254-mile track – it was a busy session from the start, and it was defending Petit Le Mans polesitter Madison Snow in the Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 who claimed provisional pole with a 1m19.501s. Snow then lowered his time to 1m19.211s and then the GTD Pro drivers started to shine.
Alex Riberas moved to the top in the all-pro Aston Martin with a 1m19.043s lap, and Jack Hawksworth snatched second in the Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus.
Riberas then pitted the #23 Vantage, eager to preserve the set of tyres on which he’ll have to start the 10-hour race. The downside of such prudence was that he saw his time beaten by Hawksworth, who clinched GTD Pro class pole with a 1m18.835s.
James Calado’s Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 took third fastest in GTD Pro, fourth overall, with Jesse Krohn fourth in class in the Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW M4, ahead of Antonio Garcia’s Chevrolet Corvette.
Snow trimmed a further tenth from his time to confirm GTD pole – 0.16s ahead of Krohn’s works BMW, and 0.388s quicker than nearest GTD competitor, Robert Megennis in the Carbahn with Peregrine Racing Lamborghini.
IMSA Petit Le Mans - Qualifying Results
| Cla | Driver | Class | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist  Helio Castroneves
|
DPi | Acura DPi | 8 | 1'08.555 | |
| 2 |
 Earl Bamber Alex Lynn  Ryan Hunter-Reay
|
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 10 | 1'08.788 | 0.233 |
| 3 |
Ricky Taylor  Filipe Albuquerque Brendon Hartley
|
DPi | Acura DPi | 7 | 1'08.802 | 0.247 |
| 4 |
 Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook Loic Duval
|
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 8 | 1'08.853 | 0.298 |
| 5 |
 Renger van der Zande Sébastien Bourdais Scott Dixon
|
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 9 | 1'08.905 | 0.350 |
| 6 |
 Mike Rockenfeller  Kamui Kobayashi Jimmie Johnson
|
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 8 | 1'08.984 | 0.429 |
| 7 |
Olivier Pla Pipo Derani Mike Conway
|
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 9 | 1'09.075 | 0.520 |
| 8 |
Thomas Steven Josh Pierson Tristan Nunez
|
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 12 | 1'11.939 | 3.384 |
| 9 |
 Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach  Fabio Scherer
|
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 12 | 1'12.021 | 3.466 |
| 10 |
Ben Keating Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker
|
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 12 | 1'12.328 | 3.773 |
| 11 |
 John Farano Louis Deletraz Rui Andrade
|
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 12 | 1'12.360 | 3.805 |
| 12 |
 Henrik Hedman  Juan Pablo Montoya Sebastian Montoya
|
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 11 | 1'13.570 | 5.015 |
| 13 |
Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel Christian Rasmussen |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 12 | 1'13.896 | 5.341 |
| 14 |
Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Kay van Berlo
|
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 11 | 1'15.517 | 6.962 |
| 15 |
Joao Barbosa Malthe Jakobsen Nicolas Pino |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 11 | 1'15.625 | 7.070 |
| 16 |
Jarett Andretti Gabby Chaves Josh Burdon |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 11 | 1'17.030 | 8.475 |
| 17 |
Orey Fidani Matthew Bell Lars Kern
|
LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 11 | 1'17.809 | 9.254 |
| 18 |
Jon Bennett Colin Braun George Kurtz
|
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 10 | 1'17.813 | 9.258 |
| 19 |
Ari Balogh Garett Grist Nolan Siegel |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 11 | 1'18.417 | 9.862 |
| 20 |
Daniel Goldburg  Cameron Shields Tyler Maxson |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 10 | 1'18.693 | 10.138 |
| 21 |
Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat Kyle Kirkwood
|
GTD PRO | Lexus RC F GT3 | 7 | 1'18.835 | 10.280 |
| 22 |
Ross Gunn  Alex Riberas Tom Gamble
|
GTD PRO | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 5 | 1'19.043 | 10.488 |
| 23 |
Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Erik Johansson
|
GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 9 | 1'19.118 | 10.563 |
| 24 |
Connor de Phillippi John Edwards  Jesse Krohn
|
GTD PRO | BMW M4 GT3 | 7 | 1'19.279 | 10.724 |
| 25 |
Daniel Serra  Davide Rigon James Calado
|
GTD PRO | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 6 | 1'19.352 | 10.797 |
| 26 |
Anthony Mantella Kyle Marcelli Josh Sarchet |
LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 10 | 1'19.357 | 10.802 |
| 27 |
Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Nick Catsburg
|
GTD PRO | Corvette C8.R GTD | 10 | 1'19.444 | 10.889 |
| 28 |
Robert Megennis Corey Lewis Jeff Westphal
|
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 8 | 1'19.506 | 10.951 |
| 29 |
Jaden Conwright Marco Holzer Don Yount
|
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 9 | 1'19.522 | 10.967 |
| 30 |
Roman De Angelis  Maxime Martin Ian James
|
GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 9 | 1'19.546 | 10.991 |
| 31 |
Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz Richard Heistand
|
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 6 | 1'19.560 | 11.005 |
| 32 |
Maximilian Buhk Mikael Grenier Maximillian Goetz |
GTD PRO | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 10 | 1'19.620 | 11.065 |
| 33 |
Mike Skeen Stevan McAleer Dirk Muller
|
GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 10 | 1'19.823 | 11.268 |
| 34 |
Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet Felipe Nasr
|
GTD PRO | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 8 | 1'19.942 | 11.387 |
| 35 |
Russell Ward Philip Ellis Marvin Dienst
|
GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 9 | 1'19.977 | 11.422 |
| 36 |
Simon Mann  Luis Perez Companc Toni Vilander
|
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 10 | 1'20.022 | 11.467 |
| 37 |
Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Jan Heylen
|
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 9 | 1'20.025 | 11.470 |
| 38 |
Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Ulysse De |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 12 | 1'20.041 | 11.486 |
| 39 |
Brendan Iribe  Jordan Lee Pepper Sebastian Priaulx
|
GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 9 | 1'20.390 | 11.835 |
| 40 |
John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly
|
GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 12 | 1'21.431 | 12.876 |
| 41 |
Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge Nicholas Boulle
|
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 11 | 1'21.470 | 12.915 |
| 42 |
Kyffin Simpson Till Bechtolsheimer Mario Farnbacher
|
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 5 | ||
| 43 |
Robby Foley Bill Auberlen Michael Dinan |
GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 2 | ||
| View full results | ||||||
