Front Row Start for Acura at Road America

• Ricky Taylor qualifies Acura ARX-05 prototype second
• Fifth front-row start for Acura Team Penske in 2018
• Katherine Legge qualifies her Acura NSX GT3 seventh in tight GTD field

Ricky Taylor led the way for Acura Saturday at the classic Road America road course, qualifying second in his Acura ARX-05 prototype in preparation for Sunday's Continental Tire Road Race Showcase. 

Taylor's effort marked the fifth front-row qualifying result for Acura Team Penske in eight races this season, including poles at Long Beach and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Acura Team Penske Prototype Acura Team Penske's Ricky Taylor battled JDC-Miller Motorsport's Robert Alon for qualifying honors throughout the brief, 15-minute prototype qualifying session.  When the checkers flew to end the session, Taylor was second, just two-tenths of a second off the pole time around the 4-mile Road America circuit.  Helio Castroneves will share driving duties tomorrow with Taylor in the #7 Acura ARX-05.

In the #6 Acura Team Penske prototype, Juan Pablo Montoya qualified fifth while dealing with understeer in the car he will share with Dane Cameron in tomorrow's two-hour, 40-minute race. 

Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 In GTD, Katherine Legge qualified her #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 seventh in a short qualifying session interrupted by a Red Flag, halting on-track activity at the seven-minute mark due to a crash in Turn 12.  Legge, who had been conserving her tires for later in the session, was left a disappointed seventh in the car she will share in the race with Alvaro Parente.

The #93 MSR Acura of Justin Marks and Lawson Aschenbach had its qualifying session hobbled by electrical issues with Marks at the wheel, and qualified 10th.

Quotes Ricky Taylor (driver, #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) qualified second: "The Acura Team Penske guys did a really good job [preparing for qualifying].  We've been looking for a little bit of [additional] pace this weekend, so really hats off to the guys for putting their heads down, sticking with it, improving the car and giving us a good car for qualifying today."

Katherine Legge (driver, #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3) qualified seventh: "I have to take responsibility for that [qualifying result].  I thought I had all the time in the world, and wanted to save my tires for another lap.  In reality, I should have finished that lap because the red [flag] came out next time round [to effectively end GTD qualifying].  It's hugely disappointing, and not where the Meyer Shank Racing Acura deserves to be at all.  It's a huge weekend for us, being in the thick of both the drivers' and manufacturers' championships.  But "the fat lady hasn't sung' yet. We have a long race to run tomorrow."

Where to watch the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase The Continental Tire Road Race Showcase  starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT Sunday, August 5, with live television coverage on Fox Sports 1 and the Fox Sports Go app.

Fans can listen to audio commentary via IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and Sirius XM Radio; and follow the race live via in-car cameras, IMSA Radio and timing & scoring available worldwide on IMSA.com and the IMSA mobile device App.

Video recaps from this weekend's Acura racing activities at Road America will be posted on the "Honda Racing/HPD" YouTube channel. Produced by the Carolinas Production Group, the videos can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Circuit:       Road America (4.0-mile road course) Elkhart Lake, WI Weather:     Sunny, warm, 85 degrees F

Top-6 Prototype Qualifying Results:

GTD Qualifying Results:

*Qualifying driver in italics

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