IMSA Laguna Seca: Campbell takes pole in Porsche 1-2

Fresh off Porsche Penske Motorsport’s victory at the Long Beach Grand Prix, the 963 took its first GTP pole position since returning to top-level prototype competition.

Campbell lapped the famed 2.238-mile Californian road course under a cloudless sky in 1m14.774s. His #7 963 set the initial benchmark with a lap of 1m14.950s, 0.057s ahead of Pipo Derani’s Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R.

Campbell then lowered the bar to 1m14.774s, with Mathieu Jaminet getting to within 0.09s of the sister car to ensure the Porsche 1-2.

Colin Braun took third in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 with 1m14.979s, before a ragged next lap took him on the rough ride over the kerbs at The Corkscrew.

Derani slipped to fourth, ahead of Ricky Taylor’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura, and the Chip Ganassi-run Caddy of Sebastien Bourdais. The BMW M Hybrids will start seventh and eighth, with Connor De Phillippi ahead of Philipp Eng.

Tijmen van der Helm rounded out the GTP class in JDC-Miller MotorSport’s new customer 963, which was 2.2s off the pace.

Crowdstrike’s George Kurtz set LMP2 pole of 1m19.262s on his very last lap, to pip regular category dominator Ben Keating (PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports) by 0.061s in the eight-car LMP2 entry – although Keating had a faster time deleted for exceeding track limits.

Keating was four tenths quicker than Steven Thomas’s TDS car, the latter escaping a huge slide at The Corkscrew. Thomas starts third, ahead of the second TDS machine of Francois Heriau.

#9 Pfaff Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), GTD PRO: Klaus Bachler, Patrick Pilet

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

Porsche scores 1-2 in GTD classes

Porsche topped both the GTD Pro and the pro-am GTD classes, which locked out the front row of the GT entry overall.

Daniel Juncadella (WeatherTech Mercedes) set the P1 bar at 1m25.017s, before the Heart of Racing Aston Martins of Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis both beat him with 1m24.776s and 1m24.647s respectively.

They were first split by Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Pro class Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F on 1m24.727s, before Bachler took over at the top with 1m24.529s in the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, and Alec Udell leapt to second – just 0.01s slower – in the pro-am #92 Kellymoss with Riley 911.

On his first taste of Laguna, Bachler just clung on to overall GT pole, ahead of Udell, De Angelis, Riberas, Juncadella and Hawksworth.

Cla	Num	Driver	Class	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	7	Matt Campbell Felipe Nasr	GTP	Porsche 963	1'14.774
2	6	Nick Tandy Mathieu Jaminet	GTP	Porsche 963	1'14.864	0.090
3	60	Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun	GTP	Acura ARX-06	1'14.979	0.205
4	31	Pipo Derani Alexander Sims	GTP	Cadillac V-Series.R	1'15.007	0.233
5	10	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque	GTP	Acura ARX-06	1'15.303	0.529
6	01	Sébastien Bourdais Renger van der Zande	GTP	Cadillac V-Series.R	1'15.335	0.561
7	25	Connor de Phillippi Nick Yelloly	GTP	BMW M Hybrid V8	1'15.648	0.874
8	24	Philipp Eng Augusto Farfus	GTP	BMW M Hybrid V8	1'15.747	0.973
9	5	Tijmen van der Helm Mike Rockenfeller	GTP	Porsche 963	1'16.995	2.221
10	04	George Kurtz Ben Hanley	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'19.262	4.488
11	52	Ben Keating Paul-Loup Chatin	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'19.323	4.549
12	11	Steven Thomas Mikkel Jensen	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'19.718	4.944
13	35	François Heriau Giedo van der Garde	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'20.475	5.701
14	51	Eric Lux Juan Pablo Montoya	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'20.625	5.851
15	20	Dennis Andersen Ed Jones	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'20.655	5.881
16	8	John Farano Louis Deletraz	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'21.055	6.281
17	18	Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'21.912	7.138
18	9	Klaus Bachler Patrick Pilet	GTD PRO	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	1'24.529	9.755
19	92	Alec Udell Julien Andlauer	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	1'24.539	9.765
20	27	Roman De Angelis Marco Sorensen	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	1'24.647	9.873
21	23	Ross Gunn Alex Riberas	GTD PRO	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	1'24.654	9.880
22	79	Daniel Juncadella Jules Gounon	GTD PRO	Mercedes AMG GT3	1'24.706	9.932
23	14	Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat	GTD PRO	Lexus RC F GT3	1'24.727	9.953
24	3	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor	GTD PRO	Corvette C8.R GTD	1'24.907	10.133
25	80	PJ Hyett Seb Priaulx	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	1'25.005	10.231
26	12	Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'25.085	10.311
27	1	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow	GTD	BMW M4 GT3	1'25.260	10.486
28	32	Mike Skeen Mikael Grenier	GTD	Mercedes AMG GT3	1'25.433	10.659
29	96	Patrick Gallagher Robby Foley	GTD	BMW M4 GT3	1'25.440	10.666
30	57	Russell Ward Philip Ellis	GTD	Mercedes AMG GT3	1'25.442	10.668
31	91	Alan Metni Kay van Berlo	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	1'25.601	10.827
32	70	Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff	GTD	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	1'25.842	11.068
33	78	Mikhail Goikhberg Loris Spinelli	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	1'25.927	11.153
34	97	Bill Auberlen Chandler Hull	GTD	BMW M4 GT3	1'26.227	11.453
35	94	Jarett Andretti Gabby Chaves	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	1'26.289	11.515
36	66	Sheena Monk Katherine Legge	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'26.363	11.589
37	77	Alan Brynjolfsson Trent Hindman	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	1'26.365	11.591
38	44	John Potter Andy Lally	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	1'26.415	11.641
View full results