Laguna Seca IMSA: WTR Cadillac beats Acuras to pole

Taylor set a new lap record with a 1min16.181 lap of the 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway, beating the Acura Team Penske ARX-05s of Dane Cameron and Helio Castroneves by 0.395 and 0.481sec respectively.

Pipo Derani was more than half a second off top spot in the faster of the two ESM Nissans, while Colin Braun was quickest of the LMP2 cars, fifth in the CORE autosport Oreca.

Fastest Mazda honors went to Jonathan Bomarito in sixth, while Eric Curran outpaced teammate Joao Barbosa to claim ninth for Action Express Racing.

Oliver Gavin took GT Le Mans pole for Corvette Racing with a 1min22.700sec lap as Dirk Mueller came up just 0.087sec short in the #66 Ford GT.

Their respective teammates Jan Magnussen and Ryan Briscoe will line up behind them for tomorrow’s race, the top quartet having been covered by just 0.15sec.

Alexander Sims did a fine job to slot his BMW M8 into fifth, just a quarter second off top spot, and ahead of both Porsche 911 RSRs.

Katherine Legge took her first ever pole position in IMSA with a 1min24.456sec to outqualify the drivers she is battling for the GT Daytona title, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow.

Legge’s Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX lapped 0.139sec faster than Snow’s Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan, and 0.188sec ahead of Jeroen Bleekemolen in the Riley Mercedes AMG GT.

Pat Long’s Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R made it four marques in the top four positions, but was surprisingly four-tenths off Legge’s pace. Patrick Lindsey’s Park Place Motorsports Porsche was fifth, ahead of the two Lexus RC Fs and the Turner Motorsport BMW M6.

Laguna Seca, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying

Pos.	Num	Driver	Class	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	10	Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande	P	Cadillac DPi	1'16.181
2	6	Juan Pablo Montoya Dane Cameron	P	Acura DPi	1'16.576	0.395
3	7	Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor	P	Acura DPi	1'16.662	0.481
4	22	Pipo Derani Johannes van Overbeek	P	Nissan DPi	1'16.766	0.585
5	54	Jon Bennett Colin Braun	P	ORECA LMP2	1'16.774	0.593
6	55	Harry Tincknell Jonathan Bomarito	P	Mazda DPi	1'16.793	0.612
7	85	Simon Trummer Robert Alon	P	ORECA LMP2	1'16.989	0.808
8	77	Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez	P	Mazda DPi	1'17.249	1.068
9	31	Eric Curran Felipe Nasr	P	Cadillac DPi	1'17.415	1.234
10	52	Gustavo Yacaman Sebastian Saavedra	P	ORECA LMP2	1'17.485	1.304
11	5	Filipe Albuquerque Joao Barbosa	P	Cadillac DPi	1'17.525	1.344
12	2	Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel	P	Nissan DPi	1'17.679	1.498
13	99	Mikhail Goikhberg Stephen Simpson	P	ORECA LMP2	1'18.067	1.886
14	4	Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner	GTLM	Corvette C7.R	1'22.700	6.519
15	66	Joey Hand Dirk Muller	GTLM	Ford GT	1'22.787	6.606
16	3	Jan Magnussen Antonio Garcia	GTLM	Corvette C7.R	1'22.806	6.625
17	67	Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook	GTLM	Ford GT	1'22.850	6.669
18	25	Connor de Phillippi Alexander Sims	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	1'22.972	6.791
19	911	Nick Tandy Patrick Pilet	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	1'22.990	6.809
20	912	Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	1'23.140	6.959
21	24	John Edwards Jesse Krohn	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	1'23.527	7.346
22	86	Alvaro Parente Katherine Legge	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'24.456	8.275
23	48	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	1'24.595	8.414
24	33	Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	1'24.644	8.463
25	58	Patrick Long Christina Nielsen	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'24.871	8.690
26	73	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Lindsey	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'24.904	8.723
27	14	Kyle Marcelli Dominik Baumann	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'25.010	8.829
28	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley	GTD	BMW M6 GT3	1'25.034	8.853
29	15	David Heinemeier Hansson Jack Hawksworth	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'25.170	8.989
30	63	Cooper MacNeil Gunnar Jeannette	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	1'25.404	9.223
31	93	Justin Marks Lawson Aschenbach	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'25.629	9.448
32	64	Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	1'26.107	9.926
33	44	Andy Lally John Potter	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3	1'26.411	10.230
34	51	Francesco Piovanetti Ozz Negri	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	1'27.731	11.550