Long Beach – Qualifying: Derani signs his third consecutive pole!

A straight run in the final minutes of the qualifying session almost ruined Derani's hopes. The Cadillac lightly hit the tire wall, but fortunately, Pipo Derani was able to back up and thus avoid causing a red flag, which would have meant the loss of his best time.

Behind him, Nick Yelloly set an excellent time to put BMW on the front row, while the sister car was only in ninth place. This is the first time this season that a car other than a Cadillac has been in the first two positions, Sébastien Bourdais having achieved the third time this time.

“I did one lap early [in the session] and that was enough”, said Derani, who teams up with Jack Aitken in the No. 31. “During the last lap, I asked the team not to talk on the radio. I arrived a little faster towards the end of the lap, I told myself that I would try to open up an additional gap if necessary. “I blocked and went into the tires. I had to get out of the barriers quickly and I had to remember how to do it because I knew it was important to start from pole here! »

Acura in difficulty

Both Porsche Penske follow in fourth and fifth positions, ahead of the car that triumphed at Sebring, the No. 40 Acura from Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti. The Acuras are in more difficulty this weekend, with the second car in eighth place.

This Sprint weekend sees the presence of two categories, GTP and GTD. In the latter, it was the Vasser Sullivan team which managed to place its two Lexus RC F GT3s on the front row, in front of the Ferrari 296 GT3 of Conquest Racing. Parker Thompson took a clear pole position, three tenths ahead of his teammate Jack Hawksworth.

See you this Saturday evening from 22:35 p.m. for a 1h40 race through the streets of Long Beach, California!

Long Beach, qualifiers – Results