First Pole for Legge Bolsters Championship Quest

By IMSA Wire Service

With two rounds remaining in the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, Katherine Legge put herself in a prime position to continue her quest for the GT Daytona (GTD) championship as she scored her first Motul Pole Award on Saturday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Co-driving the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 with Alvaro Parente, Legge narrowly eclipsed the previous track record – set by Madison Snow last year in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 – by.013 seconds with a time of one minute, 24.456 seconds (95.396 mph).

Ironically, it’s Snow and his co-driver Bryan Sellers in the No. 48 that Legge is currently chasing in the GTD championship. Snow also will start alongside the No. 86 Acura on the front row for Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute America’s Tire 250. Legge is 13 points behind the Paul Miller Racing duo.

“The team really gave me a good car and we’ve been working really hard on the qualifying setup and the race setup,” said Legge, who finished second last year at WeatherTech Raceway with Meyer Shank Racing and then-co-driver Andy Lally. “They are very different, so thanks to them. It’s all about tomorrow. It’s a really long day so I’m not about to count my chickens.

“It’s going to be important to be at the front. We really need a good result here, or we really need a good result at Petit to be in the shot for the championship. With the (No.) 48 car qualifying P2, it was really important for us to be right around there. Being one spot ahead is mega, as I would say.”

Legge’s performance came immediately following the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America race, during which Legge’s protégé Sheena Monk was transported to a local hospital following a single-car incident early in the race. Legge left the track after qualifying to be with Monk at the hospital.

Four different manufacturers made up the top four qualifying positions, with Jeroen Bleekemolen taking third in the No. 33 Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Patrick Long in the No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R taking the fourth spot.

The America’s Tire 250 – the headline event of the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – will be televised live on Sunday, Sept. 9 beginning at 5 p.m. EDT on FS1. Live IMSA Radio coverage also will be available on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio (Sirius 119/XM 202/App 972).