Albuquerque set the initial benchmark for WTR with a 1m30.029s, which he then lowered to 1m29.744s. His nearest challenger at the halfway point in the session was Earl Bamber aboard the #02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, a second behind the Portuguese.
Blomqvist, Kamui Kobayashi (Action Express Cadillac) and Sebastien Bourdais (Ganassi Cadillac) left it until almost halfway through the 15-minute segment to hit the track, but Blomqvist delivered immediately with a 1m29.698s lap to shade Albuquerque by 0.046s.
Blomqvist’s second effort was held up by a meandering LMP2 car, but next time by he delivered a 1m29.580s lap to extend his advantage over Albuquerque by 0.164s.
The Cadillacs were left gasping in comparison, although Bourdais hammered in a 1m30.048s to edge a couple of tenths ahead of team-mate Bamber into third.
Olivier Pla was 0.920s off top spot in the lead AXR Cadillac, but was still half a second clear of Tristan Vautier's JDC Miller MotorSports example in sixth. Kobayashi ran just three unrepresentative times and brought up the rear of the seven-car pack.
In LMP2, PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports team-mates Ben Keating and Steven Thomas were split by 0.001s, the former following up his Le Mans GTE Am class victory by snatching the top spot. Their striving for the perfect lap lifted the pair more than 1.5s clear of High Class Racing’s Dennis Andersen, with Frits van Eerd in fourth for Racing Team Nederland.
Jarett Andretti was the first of the LMP3 drivers to dip under the 1m41 bracket in his family-run Andretti Autosport Ligier, but he was soon displaced by Josh Sarchet in the MLT Motorsports car and Nico Varrone's FastMD Racing Duqueine - the latter then taking the top spot.
Andretti crashed exiting the final corner in his efforts to improve, causing a red flag that cost him his two best times as Jon Bennett was elevated to third in the CORE Ligier.
The GTD Pro class was headed by Connor De Phillippi's works BMW M4 of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with a 1m44.755s lap that put him just 0.048s ahead of Ross Gunn’s Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage.
Stevan McAleer in the Team Korthoff Mercedes AMG Mercedes GT3 secured the GTD class pole as the third-fastest GT entry, outpacing GTD Pro entrants Davide Rigon (Risi Competizione Ferrari 488) and Ben Barnicoat (Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F).
Richard Heistand was the second quickest entrant in GTD, his Vasser Sullivan Lexus slotting in ahead of Robby Foley’s Turner Motorsports BMW.
Watkins Glen IMSA Qualifying results
| Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60 |
 Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'29.580 | |
| 2 | 10 |
 Ricky Taylor  Filipe Albuquerque | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'29.744 | 0.164 |
| 3 | 01 |
 Renger van der Zande  Sébastien Bourdais | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'30.048 | 0.468 |
| 4 | 02 |
 Earl Bamber Alex Lynn | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'30.242 | 0.662 |
| 5 | 31 |
Olivier Pla  Pipo Derani Mike Conway | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'30.500 | 0.920 |
| 6 | 5 |
Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook Loic Duval | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'31.059 | 1.479 |
| 7 | 52 |
Ben Keating  Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'33.930 | 4.350 |
| 8 | 11 |
Thomas Steven Josh Pierson Jonathan Bomarito | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'33.931 | 4.351 |
| 9 | 20 |
Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach  Fabio Scherer | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'35.448 | 5.868 |
| 10 | 29 |
Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Dylan Murry | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'35.778 | 6.198 |
| 11 | 8 |
 John Farano Louis Deletraz Rui Andrade | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'35.838 | 6.258 |
| 12 | 81 |
 Henrik Hedman  Juan Pablo Montoya Sebastian Montoya | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'36.120 | 6.540 |
| 13 | 18 |
Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'37.658 | 8.078 |
| 14 | 40 |
Nico Varrone Max Hanratty James Vance | LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 1'40.028 | 10.448 |
| 15 | 58 |
Dakota Dickerson Josh Sarchet Tyler Maxson | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'40.590 | 11.010 |
| 16 | 54 |
Jon Bennett Colin Braun George Kurtz | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'41.288 | 11.708 |
| 17 | 36 |
Jarett Andretti Josh Burdon Gabby Chaves | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'41.360 | 11.780 |
| 18 | 38 |
Daniel Goldburg Rasmus Lindh  Cameron Shields | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'41.471 | 11.891 |
| 19 | 74 |
Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Kay van Berlo | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'41.481 | 11.901 |
| 20 | 7 |
Anthony Mantella Matthew Bell Wayne Boyd | LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 1'42.296 | 12.716 |
| 21 | 30 |
Ari Balogh Garett Grist Nolan Siegel | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'42.392 | 12.812 |
| 22 | 13 |
Orey Fidani Kyle Marcelli  Lars Kern | LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 1'42.886 | 13.306 |
| 23 | 6 |
Ugo De Danny Formal Dillon Machavern | LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 1'43.193 | 13.613 |
| 24 | 25 |
Connor de Phillippi John Edwards Augusto Farfus | GTD PRO | BMW M4 GT3 | 1'44.755 | 15.175 |
| 25 | 23 |
Ross Gunn  Alex Riberas | GTD PRO | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'44.803 | 15.223 |
| 26 | 32 |
Mike Skeen Stevan McAleer Dirk Muller | GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 1'45.077 | 15.497 |
| 27 | 62 |
Daniel Serra  Davide Rigon | GTD PRO | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'45.169 | 15.589 |
| 28 | 14 |
Ben Barnicoat Kyle Kirkwood | GTD PRO | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'45.215 | 15.635 |
| 29 | 12 |
Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz Richard Heistand | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'45.417 | 15.837 |
| 30 | 96 |
Robby Foley Bill Auberlen Michael Dinan | GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 1'45.426 | 15.846 |
| 31 | 9 |
Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet | GTD PRO | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'45.548 | 15.968 |
| 32 | 57 |
Russell Ward Philip Ellis Marvin Dienst | GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 1'45.631 | 16.051 |
| 33 | 1 |
Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Erik Johansson | GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 1'45.634 | 16.054 |
| 34 | 42 |
Jaden Conwright Marco Holzer Don Yount | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'45.756 | 16.176 |
| 35 | 16 |
Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon  Jan Heylen | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'45.762 | 16.182 |
| 36 | 47 |
Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'45.916 | 16.336 |
| 37 | 3 |
Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor | GTD PRO | Corvette C8.R GTD | 1'46.259 | 16.679 |
| 38 | 39 |
Robert Megennis Corey Lewis Jeff Westphal | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'46.264 | 16.684 |
| 39 | 27 |
Roman De Angelis Maxime Martin Ian James | GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'46.309 | 16.729 |
| 40 | 79 |
Cooper MacNeil Maro Engel Mikael Grenier | GTD PRO | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 1'46.699 | 17.119 |
| 41 | 70 |
Brendan Iribe Ollie Millroy  Jordan Lee Pepper | GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 1'46.821 | 17.241 |
| 42 | 59 |
Jon Miller Paul Holton Patrick Gallagher | GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 1'46.936 | 17.356 |
| 43 | 44 |
John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly | GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'47.466 | 17.886 |
| 44 | 21 |
Simon Mann  Luis Perez Companc  Toni Vilander | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'47.497 | 17.917 |
| 45 | 48 |
Mike Rockenfeller  Kamui Kobayashi Jimmie Johnson | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 2'17.096 | 47.516 |
| 46 | 33 |
Joao Barbosa Malthe Jakobsen Lance Willsey | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | ||
| 47 | 66 |
Kyffin Simpson Till Bechtolsheimer Mario Farnbacher | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | ||
| 48 | 99 |
Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge Stefan Wilson | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | ||
| View full results | ||||||
