Laguna Seca – Qualifications: Albuquerque dominates an Acura double

Filipe Albuquerque had announced that he was aiming for victory at Laguna Seca this weekend. The Portuguese confirmed that the number 10 Acura DPi was very comfortable on this track by signing a third pole position in a row at Monterey for the Japanese brand, the first of his personal career in IMSA. “This ride has gone crazy. I was four tenths faster in the last corner, then I lost it under braking. I think I lost half a tenth in the last corner”, confided the 36-year-old driver, author of the best time in 1:14.441. With Ricky Taylor, he will start this Sunday on the front row in front of another Acura DPi, that of Dane Cameron and Olivier Pla (1:14.464). Kevin Magnussen (Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing) completed the podium in this session with a 1:15.026. The Brazilian duo Felipe Nasr – Pipo Derani, victorious at Road America, will only occupy fifth place at the start.

In LM P2, the best time went to the Oreca 07 of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports (Keating / Jensen) in 1:17.227 ahead of Era Motorsport (Merriman / Dalziel) in 1:19.873. “What I've always heard about Laguna is that if you think your car is set up well and it handles well here, then you're not going fast enough”, said Ben Keating, who will start seventh overall. “Your car is still in gear on this track. That’s one of the hallmarks of it.”

For the fourth time in a row this season, Jordan Taylor set the best GTLM time at the wheel of the number 8 Corvette C3.R which he shares with Antonio Garcia. The American driver set the new track record in this category by setting a 1:21.151. “We were a little behind the (n°) 4 car all weekend”, Taylor said. “They seemed to be a little stronger throughout practice, so we made some big changes in practice 2 and qualifying just to kind of make a qualifying car. We found some things for pure lap time, but I don't think they will work for race settings. It's obviously nice to get the pole to get those points, and we also get an idea of ​​what we can do for the race from a set point. »

Trent Hindman a placé la Porsche 911 GT3R numéro 16 de Wright Motorsports en tête des GTD en 1:24.505. Une longue attente pour le pilote du New Jersey, deux ans après sa dernière pole et après trois deuxièmes places dans cet exercice cette saison. “I told the guys before we qualified that if we are second for the fourth time this year, I think some heads will roll.”, Hindman said. “There was a lot of motivation to make sure this didn’t happen again.” Tons of work from the guys at Wright Motorsports from practice 1 to practice 2 and through to qualifying, so the least we can do is reward them for all their time and effort. »