Andy Lee, GTS pole sitter (Weber photo)

Pobst turned a lap of 1:25.776 (87.297 mph) in the No. 6 K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 to take his 38th career pole position and third of the season, running just faster than Johnny O’Connell’s No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V.

“I’m feeling better,” an under-the-weather Pobst said. “My tummy was not happy last night, something I ate didn’t agree with me. But once I got in the car, I never even thought about it. I had to drive really hard. The Detroit Grand Prix is tight, a lot of corners, and a lot of the corners are ‘90s’ – so you’re in and out, in and out. Our Volvo S60 is really good at that, the all-wheel drive helped a lot.

“It took a while for the Pirelli radials to come in – street circuits are usually that way. So the hot lap was our third timed lap. We came in and adjusted the pressures and were going to go back out, but we got the checkers. In a way I was relieved, because it’s so risky here going flat out for qualifying.”

O’Connell was just shy of the pole and will start Saturday afternoon’s Round Six race on the outside of row one after a time of 1:25.810 (87.263 mph). His teammate, Andy Pilgrim, will start the No. 8 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V third following a qualifying lap of 1:26.230 (86.838 mph).

Lawson Aschenbach’s No. 1 Privacy Star/Entrust/TruSpeed Porsche 911 GT3 will be the third manufacturer in the front two rows after the defending Touring Car Drivers’ Champion posted a lap of 1:26.672 (86.395 mph) to qualify fourth.

Pobst’s teammate, Alex Figge, qualified the No. 9 K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 fifth with a time of 1:27.097 (85.973 mph).

Lee was quickest in Friday’s practice and led the GTS class with a lap of 1:33.731 (79.888 mph) in the No. 20 Best IT Chevrolet Camaro to take his second pole of the season and first since the season opener in St. Petersburg.

“Street courses seem to suit me really well,” Lee said. “I didn’t have too much of a problem at St. Pete, and I’d never driven there before either. For whatever reason, we mesh quite easily. I went out, only did a couple of laps, and were able to throw down a decent time.

“It’s going to be a tough race. Povoledo was right there at the end, and it’s going to be a good one.”

Aaron Povoledo will start on the outside of the GTS front row following a qualifying lap of 1:33.785 (79.842 mph) in the No. 26 Total Lubricants/Dell Cherries Ford Mustang Boss 302S.

Michael Galati, driving the No. 36 Kia Motors America Kia Optima qualified third in 1:34.179 (79.508 mph), followed by Championship leader Peter Cunningham’s No. 34 Acura/RealTime Racing Acura TSX in 1:34.274 (79.428 mph).

Galati’s teammate, Mark Wilkins, will start fifth in the No. 38 Kia Motors America Kia Optima with a best lap of 1:34.288 (79.416 mph).

Round Six of the GT and GTS season will make a standing start at 3:10 p.m. EDT. The race will be streamed live on www.world-challengetv.com. 

More information is available at www.world-challenge.com. Follow Pirelli World Challenge on Twitter @WCRacing.