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

Juan Pablo Montoya beat Acura Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves to land pole for the penultimate round of the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

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

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