IMSA Laguna Seca: Acuras lock out front row, Corvette tops GTLM

Defending champion Montoya turned a 1min15.174sec of the 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, to beat his championship-contending teammate Castroneves by 0.159sec.

Oliver Jarvis fell just 0.078sec short of splitting the ARX-05s with his Mazda RT24-Ps, and was a mere 0.009sec ahead of Pipo Derani’s best in the fastest of the Cadillac DPi-V.Rs, Action Express Racing’s entry piloted by Pipo Derani.

JDC Miller Motorsports’ Tristan Vautier did a fine job to nab fifth ahead of the second Mazda of Jonathan Bomarito, while Ryan Briscoe and Matheus Leist completed the fourth row for Wayne Taylor Racing and JDC Miller respectively.

Patrick Kelly, driving the sole LMP2 entry this weekend, turned 11 laps of the track, and despite a few offs as he explored the limits of his PR1-Mathiasen Oreca, came well within 2sec of the top DPi time.

Corvette Racing’s Jordan Taylor worked hard to land his fourth GT Le Mans pole position of the season, setting a 1min21.483sec lap – a new GTLM class record – on his final flyer.

Porsche’s Laurens Vanthoor, despite an off, was able to clean his Michelins and draw within a quarter-second of his rival, but it turned out that championship leader Taylor had delivered the #3 C8.R’s fifth pole of the year.

Oliver Gavin, who it was revealed yesterday would be stepping down from Corvette’s full-time driver roster at season’s end, landed P3 ahead of the two BMW M8s.

Frederic Makowiecki’s #911 Porsche emerged late in the session and ran only two laps before pitting.

Matt McMurry set a 1min25.125sec in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX and then parked after just four laps leaving others a tough target at which to aim. Robby Foley, whose Turner Motorsports BMW M6 topped both of Saturday’s practice sessions, lowered his deficit to the Acura from 0.055sec to 0.014sec but couldn’t quite complete the job and quit trying after six laps. That left McMurry with his first ever GT Daytona-class pole.

Cooper MacNeil was 0.2sec adrift in the WeatherTech Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488, but was fast enough to beat the second MSR Acura of Misha Goikhberg by a tenth.

Frankie Montecalvo’s #12 Lexus RC F took fifth, but the sister car was out of luck. Aaron Telitz suffered a right-rear puncture on the #14 Lexus RC F after turning just three laps and his best effort to that point saw him fall to 10^th, since teams aren’t allowed to touch their cars during the qualifying sessions, meaning he was unable to collect a new tire.

That misfortune allowed Ian James to claim sixth in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage ahead of Jeff Kingsley’s Compass Racing McLaren 720S and Till Bechtolshiemer in the Gradient Racing Acura.

The 2hr40min race – the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship – begins at 1.05pm local (Pacific) time, 4.05pm ET.

Cla	Num	Driver	Class	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	6	Juan Pablo Montoya Dane Cameron	DPi	Acura DPi	8	1'15.174
2	7	Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor	DPi	Acura DPi	9	1'15.333	0.159
3	77	Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez	DPi	Mazda DPi	7	1'15.411	0.237
4	31	Felipe Nasr Pipo Derani	DPi	Cadillac DPi	8	1'15.420	0.246
5	5	Sébastien Bourdais Tristan Vautier	DPi	Cadillac DPi	8	1'15.461	0.287
6	55	Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell	DPi	Mazda DPi	8	1'15.580	0.406
7	10	Renger van der Zande Ryan Briscoe	DPi	Cadillac DPi	8	1'15.729	0.555
8	85	Matheus Leist Stephen Simpson	DPi	Cadillac DPi	8	1'15.852	0.678
9	52	Patrick Kelly Simon Trummer	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	11	1'19.598	4.424
10	3	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor	GTLM	Corvette C8.R	6	1'21.483	6.309
11	912	Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	7	1'21.725	6.551
12	4	Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner	GTLM	Corvette C8.R	6	1'21.853	6.679
13	25	Bruno Spengler Connor de Phillippi	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	5	1'22.054	6.880
14	24	Jesse Krohn John Edwards	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	4	1'22.120	6.946
15	86	Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	4	1'25.126	9.952
16	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley	GTD	BMW M6 GT3	6	1'25.140	9.966
17	63	Cooper MacNeil Alessandro Balzan	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	7	1'25.318	10.144
18	57	Alvaro Parente Mikhail Goikhberg	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	5	1'25.426	10.252
19	12	Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	4	1'25.475	10.301
20	23	Ian James Roman De Angelis	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	5	1'25.676	10.502
21	76	Jeff Kingsley Paul Holton	GTD	McLaren 720S GT3	7	1'25.826	10.652
22	22	Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	8	1'26.012	10.838
23	16	Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	5	1'26.171	10.997
24	44	Andy Lally John Potter	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	6	1'26.359	11.185
25	14	Jack Hawksworth Aaron Telitz	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	3	1'26.404	11.230
26	30	Rob Ferriol Spencer Pumpelly	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3	7	1'26.791	11.617
27	74	Gar Robinson Lawson Aschenbach	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	8	1'29.460	14.286
28	911	Nick Tandy Frédéric Makowiecki	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	2	1'32.856	17.682
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