Maxwell Wins Sixth TOTAL Pole of 2016, Rabe Captures First Career ST PoleHonda and Mazda led Thursday’s opening IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice sessions at Road Atlanta, preparing for Saturday’s season-ending Petit Le Mans presented by Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (FOX Sports GO, FS1, Live, 11 a.m. ET).Olivier Pla set the day’s quickest overall time during the evening hours, laying down an unofficial record lap of 1:13.541 (124.3 mph) on the 2.54-mile circuit behind the wheel of the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Curb Records/AERO Honda Ligier JS P2. He was followed closely by Mazda Motorsports’ Jonathan Bomarito, who ran a 1:14.037 (123.5 mph) in the No. 55 Mazda Prototype. Ozz Negri, who had led the afternoon session, was very pleased to once again have the full Shank endurance lineup in play.“I can’t say enough about my Michael Shank Racing team, the crew, my engineer Dale (Wise), Gary (Karamikian) at Honda HPD, they’ve all been working flat out,” Negri said. “I’m giddy about having this group of people – including Olivier Pla – on this team. We like the same thing in the car. Anything he asks for with the set up works for me, and whatever I ask for works for him. It’s just a great thing. We are here for one objective which is to be up front and win this race.”Competitors in the GT classes turned in their best laps during the 90-minute night session. Dirk Mueller led the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class with a lap of 1:18.340 (116.8 mph) in the No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT co-driven by Joey Hand and Sebastien Bourdais. In GT Daytona (GTD), Marco Seefried was fastest with an unofficial track record lap of 1:21.187 (112.6 mph) in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 co-driven by John Potter and Andy Lally.Championship leader Renger van der Zande paced the Prototype Challenge (PC) category, turning a lap of 1:16.235 in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09 co-driven by Alex Popow and David Heinemeier Hansson.Championship Leader Maxwell Wins Sixth GS Pole For Road Atlanta 150Scott Maxwell took another step towards the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Grand Sport (GS) title by capturing his sixth TOTAL Pole Award of the season in the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsport Ford Shelby GT350R-C co-driven by Billy Johnson. It extended his series-leading total to 16 career poles.Maxwell turned in a record lap of 1:31.045 (100.4 mph) in the shortened session. To secure his third Continental Tire Challenge GS title, Maxwell must drive the 45-minute minimum driving time required to score points. It would be Johnson’s first title in the series.“I just wanted to get in one fast lap – I didn’t even care if it was third or fourth,” Maxwell said. “One of the Porsches got really close, but then we had the red flag. Tomorrow I have to do 45 minutes, and I plan on being safe, and then Billy needs to get in one good lap and then go like heck to catch everyone else and win the race. So we’ve got to be real conservative early and then go like stink for an hour and a half.”Danny Burkett qualified second, running 1:31.285 (100.1 mph) in the No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport co-driven by Marc Miller, followed by Pierre Kleinubing at 1:31.472 (99.9 mph) in the No. 76 C360R Ford Shelby GT350R-C co-driven by Paul Holton.Rabe Takes First Career ST TOTAL Pole Award In Bodymotion PorscheJason Rabe captured his first career TOTAL Pole Award in Street Tuner (ST) qualifying, turning a lap of 1:37.300 (93.9 mph) in the No. 31 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Cayman co-driven by Devin Jones. The session was shortened by an incident involving the No. 54 JDC-Miller Motorsports BMW 228i of Mike Johnson and the No. 56 Murillo Racing Porsche Cayman of Jeff Mosing – with Rabe barely avoiding the incident.“This was a long time coming,” Rabe said. “Every weekend we get better and better. Devin and I, along with the rest of the team, are gelling more than ever. They told me I had to get the lap in quick, because it was going to be crazy, so I tried to get in a good lap right away. We got the flier – and it was my fastest lap of the weekend. Then the incident [that brought out the red flag] was right behind me. I saw it in my rear-view mirror and went through the gravel – otherwise we would have hit too, and would have been toast.”Drake Kemper was second with a lap of 1:37.300 (93.9 mph) in the No. 34 Alara Racing Mazda MX-5 co-driven by Christian Scymczak, followed by Chad McCumbee, 1:37.358 (93.9 mph) in the No. 25 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5.McCumbee and co-driver Stevan McAleer enter the race with an eight-point lead over RS1 Porsche Cayman drivers Nick Galante and Spencer Pumpelly, 233, while Mosing and Eric Foss are third with 231 points. Galante will start 11th, while Mosing will start 25th as a result of the incident.Friday’s schedule includes Round 10 of the Continental Tire SportsCar Championship at 12:25 p.m. ET, followed by WeatherTech Championship qualifying at 3:30 p.m. ET.