Qualifying report

IMSA Long Beach

IMSA Long Beach: Derani takes pole for Cadillac by 0.009s, then wrecks

Cadillac’s Pipo Derani qualified on pole position, despite crashing on Friday evening, ahead of the third round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship on the streets of Long Beach.

Charles Bradley

Edited: Apr 20, 2024, 6:40 PM

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Derani lapped his #31 Action Express-run Cadillac V-Series.R in 1m11.388s around the 1.9-mile temporary circuit.

The GTP class is using Michelin’s soft-compound tire at Long Beach for the first time outside of Daytona night running, but times were way off last year's qualifying session on harder rubber – pole being a 1m09.909s by Filipe Albuquerque’s Acura.

Derani laid down an early marker of 1m11.388s, three tenths clear of Jordan Taylor in the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.

Nick Yelloly grabbed second in the#25 RLL BMW M Hybrid, just 0.009s off Derani’s fastest time. Nobody else could top Derani’s benchmark, but that didn’t stop him from trying to improve.

Derani crashed at Turn 9 but managed to extricate himself from the tirewall before any other drivers on hot laps arrived on the scene, thus avoiding a penalty. He was forced to drag his car back to the pits with a shattered nose.

“I put the lap in early, which was enough,” said Derani. “I tried it [again] in case I need an extra gap but I locked up and went straight into the barrier. I knew I needed to get out quickly, to avoid a red flag.

“I know we can swap out the nose.”

Having opted for a late run, FP2 pacesetter Sebastien Bourdais (Chip Ganassi Cadillac V-Series.R) managed to get stuck behind Mike Rockenfeller, who has joined Gianmaria Bruni this weekend in Proton’s 963. Once released by the German, Bourdais caught a BMW on his final flyer and had to settle for third, 0.023s off pole.

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Nick Tandy and Dane Cameron were next up, ahead of Jordan Taylor in the best-placed Acura, Tijmen van der Helm (JDC Porsche 963), Albuquerque, Philipp Eng in the #24 BMW, and Rockenfeller.

#89 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Ben Barnicoat, Parker Thompson

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Lexus dominates GTD

In GTD, Parker Thompson (who shares with Pro class ace Ben Barnicoat this weekend) aced the class with a lap of 1m17.357s in the #89 Lexus RC F, 0.262s ahead of class stable-mate Frankie Montecalvo (who shares with Jack Hawksworth) in the #12 Lexus.

Albert Costa placed third in the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 from Roman De Angelis (Heart of Racing Aston Martin) and FP2 pacesetter Danny Formal in WTRA’s #45 Lamborghini.

Saturday’s 100-minute race starts at 1:35pm local time (4:35pm ET).

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

Main Information

Cla Drivers # Chassis Laps Time Interval km/h 1 Brazil P. Derani United Kingdom J. Aitken Whelen Cadillac Racing 31 Cadillac V-Series.R 11

1'11.388

99.274 2 United States C. de Phillippi United Kingdom N. Yelloly BMW M Team RLL 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 9

+0.009

1'11.397

0.009 99.261 3 Netherlands R. van der Zande France S. Bourdais Cadillac Racing 01 Cadillac V-Series.R 5

+0.023

1'11.411

0.014 99.242 4 United Kingdom N. Tandy France M. Jaminet Porsche Penske Motorsport 6 Porsche 963 12

+0.241

1'11.629

0.218 98.940 5 United States D. Cameron Brazil F. Nasr Porsche Penske Motorsport 7 Porsche 963 12

+0.353

1'11.741

0.112 98.785 6 United States J. Taylor Switzerland L. Deletraz Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti 40 Acura ARX-06 11

+0.357

1'11.745

0.004 98.780 7 Netherlands T. van der Helm United Kingdom R. Westbrook JDC/Miller Motorsports 85 Porsche 963 12

+0.542

1'11.930

0.185 98.526 8 United States R. Taylor Portugal F. Albuquerque Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti 10 Acura ARX-06 11

+0.552

1'11.940

0.010 98.512 9 Finland J. Krohn Austria P. Eng BMW M Team RLL 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 10

+0.611

1'11.999

0.059 98.431 10 Italy G. Bruni Germany M. Rockenfeller Proton Competition 5 Porsche 963 10

+1.755

1'13.143

1.144 96.892 11 United Kingdom B. Barnicoat Canada P. Thompson Vasser Sullivan 89 Lexus RC F GT3 11

+5.969

1'17.357

4.214 91.614 12 United States F. Montecalvo United Kingdom J. Hawksworth Vasser Sullivan 12 Lexus RC F GT3 11

+6.231

1'17.619

0.262 91.304 13

M. Franco

Spain A. Costa Conquest Racing 34 Ferrari 296 GT3 10

+6.291

1'17.679

0.060 91.234 14 Canada R. De Angelis United States S. Pumpelly Heart Of Racing Team 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 11

+6.337

1'17.725

0.046 91.180 15 Canada K. Marcelli Costa Rica D. Formal Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti 45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 10

+6.426

1'17.814

0.089 91.076 16 United States M. Skeen Canada M. Grenier Korthoff/Preston Motorsports 32 Mercedes AMG GT3 10

+6.439

1'17.827

0.013 91.060 17 United States R. Foley P. Gallagher Turner Motorsport 96 BMW M4 GT3 12

+6.623

1'18.011

0.184 90.846 18

G. Levorato

United States C. Lewis Proton Competition 55 Ford Mustang GT3 11

+6.789

1'18.177

0.166 90.653 19 United States R. Ward Switzerland P. Ellis Winward Racing 57 Mercedes AMG GT3 12

+6.912

1'18.300

0.123 90.510 20 United States B. Iribe Switzerland F. Schandorff Inception Racing 70 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO 11

+7.060

1'18.448

0.148 90.340 21

A. Adelson

E. Skeer Wright Motorsports 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 12

+7.069

1'18.457

0.009 90.329 22 Canada M. Goikhberg Italy L. Spinelli Forte Racing 78 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 10

+7.267

1'18.655

0.198 90.102 23 United States J. Andretti Colombia G. Chaves Andretti Motorsports 43 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 12

+7.947

1'19.335

0.680 89.330 24

K. Li

Denmark A. Fjordbach MDK Motorsports 86 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 12

+8.513

1'19.901

0.566 88.697 25 Canada O. Fidani United Kingdom M. Bell AWA 13 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD 11

+8.684

1'20.072

0.171 88.507 26

E. Sabo

A. Lee Flying Lizard Motorsports 28 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 12

+9.009

1'20.397

0.325 88.150 27

S. Monk

United Kingdom S. McAleer Gradient Racing 66 Acura NSX GT3 0

0.000

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