Ben Keating Qualifies IMSA GTD Career-Best Second Friday at the Northeast GP

No. 33 ViperExchange.com Riley Motorsports Viper GT3-R Starts on the Outside Front Row after Just Missing Pole

Ben Keating turned in his best IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship qualifying performance Friday at Lime Rock Park where he just missed out on winning the GT Daytona (GTD) class pole in the No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper GT3-R.

Keating posted two top laps early in the 15-minute qualifying session but ultimately came up a scant .009 of second shy of the pole. Keating even managed to turn his fastest time of the session - 54.013 (98.243 mph) - on his 11th lap but it was just a tick behind the eventual pole winner’s lap.

“We feel like this track really suits our Viper pretty well,” Keating said. “We felt like if we were going to get another pole this year, this was our best opportunity, and we went with every little thing we could possibly think of on our qualifying setup. We definitely went out there to hang it out. Tires drop off pretty quickly at Lime Rock, so the goal was to go out there and put down a screamer lap, which hopefully was the pole, and then save the tires for the race.”

Instead, the intense qualifying session saw Keating and most of the competition throw tire conservation out the window as they battled for the pole.

“I think all 12 of the GTD cars stayed out for the whole 15 minutes,” Keating said. “I did a fast lap, and then we were on the pole for quite a while, so I was trying to take care of the tires. I laid back for a couple of laps and then heard over the radio I got beat by .009 of a second, so I really started pushing, but the peak of the tires was gone by then.”

Keating will start tomorrow’s race and hand off to his co-driver and usual race closer, Jeroen Bleekemolen, to take the Viper to the finish. Bleekemolen was also on pace in No. 33 on Friday, setting the second fastest time in this morning’s opening practice session.

“I am pretty confident,” Bleekemolen said. “The car is going well at this track but everything needs to be perfect, good strategy and no mistakes because overtaking is very hard. Qualifying was a lot of fun to watch. We had the pole for a long time, Ben did a great job and we got so close a couple of times again near the end. We gave it our all and we are very competitive.”

Keating also likes the Viper’s chances in tomorrow’s race.

“We have a great car for the race,” Keating said. “I feel good about our Viper in the race because I think our car will be good at the end. Really, there's no car out there that's going to be that good at the end of a stint. They're all going to be sliding all over the place, but I think our car is better at the end of a stint on our tires.”

The two-hour and 40-minute Northeastern Grand Prix takes the green flag tomorrow, Saturday, July 25, at 3:15 p.m. EDT. IMSA.com and the IMSA app will stream in-car cameras, live timing and scoring and IMSA Radio’s play-by-play throughout the race. Full race coverage will air the next day on FOX Sports 1, Sunday, July 26, from 5 - 7:30 p.m. EDT.


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