Adding Up: James French Takes Home Fourth Pole

James French landed his fourth pole of the season in the Performance Tech Motorsports No. 38 Prototype Challenge.

French captured his fourth pole at Watkins Glen International; this is his first time on pole at the New York track. Performance Tech has won four out of the possible five PC poles. This is French’s eighth career pole.

Performance Tech began the weekend on a weary note with French spinning in Practice One, breaking the steering wheel. In Practice Two it was Pato O’Ward’s turn. A loose car and no power steering sent O’Ward backward into the wall. Luckily, the car only took on cosmetic damage to the wing and back of the car.

It all came together in a flawless Practice Three. The team practiced both wet and dry setups, preparing for possible weather during the qualifying session. The PC qualifying session stayed dry and allowed French to build a smooth two-second gap above the competition.

“We started off practice with a bit more of a nervous car than we wanted. We thought we’d have a conservative setup,” French said. “The car was a bit more steery than we wanted. Pato and I both had incidences yesterday. Unfortunately, he hit the wall, and that caused some damage. The team put a lot of work into the car for today. We took the more conservative route for the setup again. As far as surviving the six hours goes that setup makes it a little bit easier on all of us and gives us a better time going through traffic.”

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