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Qualifying report

Detroit IMSA: Acura Team Penske locks out front row

A sensational battle between former IndyCar stars Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves saw the Acura Team Penske drivers lock out the front row for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s fifth round at Detroit.

#6 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi, DPi: Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron

#6 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi, DPi: Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron

Art Fleischmann

Prototype

Montoya, who together with Dane Cameron won the previous round at Mid-Ohio, lapped the 2.35-mile Belle Isle course in 1min19.373sec, clinched pole ahead of fellow Acura ARX-05 driver Castroneves by 0.207sec, despite Helio’s best effort leaving him marginally quicker in Sector 1.

A late effort from Jonathan Bomarito drew the #55 Mazda RT24-P to within 0.4sec of Castroneves and 0.587sec off pole, but saw him edge the #31 Action Express Cadillac DPi-V.R of practice pacesetter Pipo Derani by 0.031sec.

Derani was a quarter second clear of AXR teammate Joao Barbosa, while Renger van der Zande will start the Chevrolet Classic from the outside of the third row in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

Tristan Nunez was a surprising half-second slower than Mazda teammate Bomarito, but that still kept him clear of the two JDC Miller Motorsports Cadillacs and the Juncos Racing Cadillac which was piloted by junior open-wheel star Victor Franzoni.

GT Daytona

Robbie Foley initially took pole for Turner Motorsport in the handsome blue-and-yellow BMW M6, beating Zacharie Robichon in the Park Place Porsche 911 GT3 R by a mere 0.031sec.

However, later in the evening it transpired that the BMW was not compliant with camber regulations when it reached post-qualifying tech inspection and the Foley/Bill Auberlen-driven car will start from the back of the grid. Thus Robichon and Pat Long will start from pole.

These two cars were 0.4sec clear of the two Acura NSXs of Christina Nielsen and Trent Hindman, while Richard Heistand and Frankie Montecalvo were fifth and sixth in the two AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC Fs.

Ryan Hardwick in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan landed seventh ahead of the McLaren 720S of Matt Plumb which was fixed after this morning’s shunt.

John Potter (Magnus Racing Lamborghini) and Cooper MacNeil (Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488) completed the top 10, ahead of Lone Star Racing’s Mercedes AMG GT.

Parker Chase in the Starworks Audi R8 had a suspension issue and had to pit again, and when the pitcrew touched the car, he was consigned to the back of the pack.

Because this is only a Sprint Cup race, rather than a round of the overall GTD championship, the Moorespeed Audi, the Pfaff Porsche and the Riley Mercedes-Benz are all absent. Regular Riley driver Ben Keating is preparing for the Le Mans test on Sunday, driving the GTE Am Ford GT.

Had Park Place not entered – borrowing Robichon from Pfaff in place of Patrick Lindsey who is on Le Mans duty – this would have been the first topline IMSA sportscar race without a Porsche since 1971.

 
Cla Num Driver Class Chassis Time Gap
1 6 United States Dane Cameron
Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya
DPi Acura DPi 1'19.373
2 7 Brazil Helio Castroneves
United States Ricky Taylor
DPi Acura DPi 1'19.580 0.207
3 55 United States Jonathan Bomarito
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
DPi Mazda DPi 1'19.960 0.587
4 31 Brazil Felipe Nasr
Brazil Pipo Derani
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'19.991 0.618
5 5 Portugal Joao Barbosa
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'20.239 0.866
6 10 Netherlands Renger van der Zande
United States Jordan Taylor
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'20.448 1.075
7 77 United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United States Tristan Nunez
DPi Mazda DPi 1'20.508 1.135
8 84 Switzerland Simon Trummer
South Africa Stephen Simpson
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'20.663 1.290
9 50 United States Will Owen
Brazil Victor Franzoni
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'21.075 1.702
10 85 Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
France Tristan Vautier
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'23.313 3.940
11 54 United States Jon Bennett
United States Colin Braun
DPi Nissan DPi 1'24.631 5.258
12 96 United States Bill Auberlen
United States Robby Foley
GTD BMW M6 GT3 1'29.704 10.331
13 73 United States Patrick Long
Canada Zacharie Robichon
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'29.735 10.362
14 57 United Kingdom Katherine Legge
Denmark Christina Nielsen
GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'30.126 10.753
15 86 United States Trent Hindman
Germany Mario Farnbacher
GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'30.242 10.869
16 14 United States Richard Heistand
United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1'30.453 11.080
17 12 United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Townsend Bell
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1'30.505 11.132
18 48 United States Bryan Sellers
United States Ryan Hardwick
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'30.763 11.390
19 76 United States Paul Holton
United States Matt Plumb
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 1'30.814 11.441
20 44 United States John Potter
United States Andy Lally
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'30.926 11.553
21 63 United States Cooper MacNeil
Finland Toni Vilander
GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 1'31.953 12.580
22 74 United States Gar Robinson
United States Lawson Aschenbach
GTD Mercedes-AMG 1'31.970 12.597
23 8 United States Parker Chase
United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
GTD Audi R8 LMS GT3

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