Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion Loek Hartog hasn’t backed off the throttle since clinching his title, and the Dutchman qualified on pole position Saturday morning at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
Hartog’s time of 2:06.237 driving the No. 24 Porsche for Kellymoss was nearly two-tenths quicker than second place, Michael Cooper (Baby Bull Racing).
The second row today will feature the race winners from last weekend at Road Atlanta – Zach Vanier (JDX Racing) leading Ryan Yardley (Topp Racing).
“It’s not only me,” Hartog said after qualifying.
“The team did a very good job, especially after yesterday. We just did the right thing to the car and the car is very nice to drive. I’m very happy to get pole position here at COTA.
“Personally, I feel like there are still some things to do better. In the race, I hope to dial a few things, and hopefully, we can get a clean getaway and drive a very good race. Hopefully, we can then really show what we’re capable of. To me, it’s still not perfect, so I’d like to show that in the race.”
While Hartog will lead the Pro class field to green, his Kellymoss teammate Alan Metni will do the same in the Pro-Am class. Metni, who lives locally near the Austin, Texas racetrack, also posted the fastest practice time on Friday before setting his qualifying time of 2:07.564. Six Pro cars separate Metni from the second-place Pro-Am driver, Marco Cirone.
“It feels great,” said Metni.
“I love racing here, and it’s also quite nice to wake up in your own bed and go to the racetrack, so I’m happy about how it turned out today.”
Of the Masters drivers, Chris Bellomo continued his quest for the class championship by landing on pole position with a time of 2:09.006. Bellomo – along with Hartog and Metni – also runs under the Kellymoss banner, making it a qualifying sweep for the squad.
“It felt good, the conditions were much cooler,” described Bellomo.
“I felt l had much more grip than FP1. I am just going to try to survive the start and put in as many solid laps as I can for 35 minutes and see what happens.”
The first race of the weekend – and penultimate of the season – goes green later on Saturday at 4:40 p.m. ET. The final Porsche Carrera Cup North America race of 2024 is scheduled for Sunday at 12 p.m. ET prior to the Formula One United States Grand Prix.
The races will stream on Peacock TV, IMSA.tv, IMSA and Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA) YouTube channels plus the PMNA Facebook, X and LinkedIn channels.
