Acura takes pole position in a very close qualifying session at Long Beach

Thirty thousandths of a second. That's all that separated pole-sitter Nick Yelloly from his closest rival, Marco Wittmann. The driver of the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 unleashed his speed on the demanding Long Beach circuit to seize the fastest time in the GTP category. The British driver completed the 3,16 km loop in 1:11.626, while eight drivers were separated by less than four-tenths of a second.

“We haven’t achieved the pole positions and results we expected this year, so starting from pole position here at home is crucial and I’m extremely proud,” commented Nick Yelloly as he got out of the car. We knew we had a good car during free practice, so it was simply a matter of giving it my all. I put in some good laps at the end, which is very satisfying.

Furthermore, while Cadillac seemed to have everything under control until the end of Free Practice, two of its cars made it into the top four in this qualifying session. Louis Deletraz's #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac secured third place, while Jack Aitken and his #31 Whelen Cadillac claimed fourth. Porsche France still has its representative with the fine qualification of Julien Andlauer who will team up this weekend with Frederik Vesti, while the other Frenchman on the grid, Kevin Estre, placed eighth in a session where the gaps were once again very small.

The GTD category also delivered its share of excitement with Robert Wickens' historic performance. The Canadian driver put the AWA team's brand-new Corvette Z06 GT3.R on pole position. This result is symbolic for Wickens and marks the first pole position for the new Corvette GT3 in the series. IMSAHe finished ahead of the Gradient Racing Acura. It should be noted that Frankie Montecalvo (Lexus) initially secured this famous pole position legitimately, but a technical infraction leading to a penalty ultimately resulted in this historic outcome.

The race will be available to follow from 22pm (French time) this Saturday on YouTube and autohebdo.fr, live.

IMSA – Long Beach
The qualifying rankings