Versteeg Edges JDC Motorsports Teammate Toppe For Pole At Watkins Glen

Austin Versteeg held off JDC Motorsports teammate Clark Toppe to win the pole during qualifying for the Mazda Prototype Lites Presented by Cooper Tires series Thursday at Watkins Glen International.

Versteeg, from Sandy, Utah, turned his quickest lap of 1 minute, 43.729 seconds on the penultimate of his nine laps during the 20-minute session in the No. 7 JDC Motorsports entry. Toppe, from The Woodlands, Texas, fell just short of his teammate at 1:43.905 on his final lap in the No. 10 JDC Motorsports Élan DP02 chassis powered by a Mazda engine on Cooper Tires.
“The team has done a really, really good job,” Versteeg said. The first (practice) session was a bit shaky for us, but these guys at JDC Motorsports work their butts off. I can’t thank them enough for all they do.
“We made massive improvements from first practice to second practice and from second practice to qualifying. There’s nothing much I can say but thank you to all them. They do everything for me.”
Toppe leads Versteeg, 38-36, after two rounds. The teen teammates split victories at the opening event in mid-March at Sebring International Raceway, with Toppe winning Round 1 and Versteeg Round 2.
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SCanadian Michal Chlumecky led Lites 1 Masters qualifiers.

Their early-season dominance in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned Official Development Series has continued an impressive streak for Minnesota-based JDC Motorsports. The team has won 20 consecutive Prototype Lites races, dating back to August 2014.

Kyle Masson, from Windermere, Florida, qualified third overall Thursday at 1:44.692 in the No. 18 Performance Tech Motorsports entry. Max Hanratty, from Milwaukee, was fourth at 1:44.706 in the No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports entry.
Michal Chlumecky, from Windsor, Ontario, rounded out the top five and was the quickest Lites 1 Masters qualifier at 1:44.820 in the No. 31 Eurosport Racing car.
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Jay Salmon was the quickest
Lites 2 qualifier.
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Jay Salmon, from Lynchburg, Virginia, was the quickest Lites 2 driver at 1:50.663 in the No. 46 ODU Engineering entry. This is his first start of the season.

Three rounds will take place on the historic 11-turn 3.4-mile circuit at this event, with two 30-minute races Friday.
Round 3 is scheduled for 9:05 a.m. (ET) Friday, followed by Round 4 at 2:30 p.m. A busy event for the series will finish with Round 5, a 45-minute race, starting at 8:05 a.m. Saturday.
For more information about Mazda Prototype Lites Presented by Cooper Tires, visit www.imsa.com, follow hashtags #MazdaLites and #MRT24 @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook.
Adam Sinclair