After skipping last year’s IMSA round at Circuit of the Americas, CORE autosport has returned to find May much cooler than the race’s traditional September date. Under a clear blue sky with temperatures in the 70’s, Jon Bennett qualified 17th for Saturday’s Advance Auto Parts SportsCar Showdown.
Hopping aboard the No. 54 Flexbox / Composite Resources Porsche 911 GT3 R one day after his birthday, Bennett once again was given qualifying duties on the 3.4-mile, 20-turn road course. Bennett’s early times put him in the top-15 in class, but at the close of the 15-minute session for the ultra-competitive GTD field, Bennett was 17th on grid.
The two-hour and 40-minute race will go green at 1:35pm ET Saturday, May 6. Coverage on FS1 will air later, at 7pm ET. Live radio, scoring and in-car cameras will be available on IMSA.com as well as a live race stream for viewers outside the U.S.
Jon Bennett
Driver: No. 54 Porsche 911 GT3 R
“We hoped for a little faster lap time, but we’ve been improving the car each session since we’ve been here. The car is working pretty well. The race is entirely different than practice and qualifying. We have a strong team and I think that pays at the end of the race. We’ll be in good shape on Saturday afternoon.”
