Front Row Start for Meyer Shank Racing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Monterey, Calif. (14 September 2019) – Trent Hindman locked in his fourth front row start of the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with the No. 86 AutoNation Acura NSX GT3 on Saturday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The championship-leading squad made big improvements in the practice sessions ahead of qualifying on Saturday. Mario Farnbacher and Hindman improved a full 1.5-seconds from the first practice session on Friday to the third session on Saturday morning, landing fourth in the order before qualifying.

The 15-minute qualifying run was cut into two segments after a red flag halted the session just six minutes in. In full attack mode early in the session to make the most of the tire performance, Hindman sat atop the times with a quick lap of 1:25.063-seconds when the red flag halted the session. But having not reached the official guaranteed time limit of ten minutes, the field was then awarded four minutes to fight for pole position.

The team made the decision to send Hindman back out on track for one last run. Hindman’s fast time of 1:25.063-seconds held the pole until the final lap of the session with a competitor taking a last lap flyer to claim pole as the No. 86 AutoNation Acura NSX GT3 will to start second for the Monterey SportsCar Championship on Sunday.

“Qualifying today was kind of like a mirror image of the 86 car from last year, minus the pole,” said Hindman. “We are totally happy where we’re at. Yesterday was a struggle, but we made good improvements forward for today, another good step in the right direction. Now we change the mindset from a one-lap speed to saving the tires, that’s the most important thing for the race tomorrow. It’s nice to have the AutoNation Meyer Shank Racing NSX back on the front row.”

The Monterey SportsCar Championship will be live on NBC on Sunday, September 15th starting at 3:00pm ET.