Detroit IMSA: Derani puts ESM Nissan on pole in messy session
A red flag meant a truly strange ending to the IMSA Prototype qualifying session at Belle Isle in which Pipo Derani took pole, while Bryan Sellers was sensational in the GT Daytona class.
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
The start of the session was delayed slightly for track repairs, so in order to meet the track’s 6pm curfew, the two classes had their sessions reduced to 12mins.
When Robert Alon smacked the wall in his JDC Miller Motorsports Oreca and sprayed debris over the track, there were barely four minutes remaining, and Helio Castroneves’ Acura and the two Mazdas drove to pit out rather than their pitboxes.
That’s against the rules, so they needed to serve a drive through penalty, effectively ending their chance of going for pole.
Instead, Derani nailed an excellent flying lap to take pole ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya in the other Acura, while Castroneves will have to be content with third place, using his time before the session stoppage.
Fourth and sixth will be Joao Barbosa and Eric Curran in their Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.Rs, sandwiched between them will be Misha Goikhberg in the other JDC-Miller machine.
Renger van der Zande was seventh fastest in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, so will start ahead of the Mazdas whose unrepresentative times leave them languishing in eighth and ninth.
They’re just ahead of the second ESM Nissan of Scott Sharp who received a rude nudge in the backside from Castroneves during the Brazilian’s desperate attempts to find a clear track.
The GT Daytona class was missing one of its best entrants, Magnus Racing, due to Andy Lally suffering a catastrophic engine failure in the second practice session.
But the remainder put on a strong showing, thanks to an exciting battle between the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan of Sellers, and the two Acuras and Lexuses.
However, Sellers put pole beyond doubt with his seventh lap, clocking a 1min28.942sec, 0.448sec faster Katherine Legge’s Acura and 0.775 ahead of the second NSX of Justin Marks.
Perhaps disappointingly, therefore, the 3GT Racing Lexuses could manage only fourth and fifth, Dominik Bauman and David Heinemeier Hansson finishing 0.845sec and 1.172sec off top spot.
Ben Keating produced a solid effort to take sixth in the Riley Motorsports Mercedes, ahead of Michael Schein in the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911.
IMSA, Detroit qualifying
Pos. | No. | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 22 | Pipo Derani Johannes van Overbeek |
P | Nissan DPi | 1'22.273 | |
2 | 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya Dane Cameron |
P | Acura DPi | 1'22.992 | 0.719 |
3 | 7 | Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor |
P | Acura DPi | 1'23.275 | 1.002 |
4 | 5 | Filipe Albuquerque Joao Barbosa |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'23.278 | 1.005 |
5 | 99 | Mikhail Goikhberg Stephen Simpson |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'23.384 | 1.111 |
6 | 31 | Eric Curran Felipe Nasr |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'23.469 | 1.196 |
7 | 10 | Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'23.558 | 1.285 |
8 | 77 | Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez |
P | Mazda DPi | 1'23.969 | 1.696 |
9 | 85 | Simon Trummer Robert Alon |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'24.553 | 2.280 |
10 | 55 | Harry Tincknell Jonathan Bomarito |
P | Mazda DPi | 1'24.566 | 2.293 |
11 | 2 | Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel |
P | Nissan DPi | 1'24.637 | 2.364 |
12 | 90 | Matt McMurry Tristan Vautier |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'24.688 | 2.415 |
13 | 52 | Gustavo Yacaman Sebastian Saavedra |
P | Ligier LMP2 | 1'25.371 | 3.098 |
14 | 54 | Jon Bennett Colin Braun |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'25.741 | 3.468 |
15 | 48 | Bryan Sellers Madison Snow |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'28.942 | 6.669 |
16 | 86 | Katherine Legge Mario Farnbacher |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'29.390 | 7.117 |
17 | 93 | Justin Marks Lawson Aschenbach |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'29.717 | 7.444 |
18 | 14 | Kyle Marcelli Dominik Baumann |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'29.787 | 7.514 |
19 | 15 | David Heinemeier Hansson Jack Hawksworth |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'30.114 | 7.841 |
20 | 33 | Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'30.196 | 7.923 |
21 | 63 | Jeff Segal Cooper MacNeil |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'30.282 | 8.009 |
22 | 16 | Wolf Henzler Michael Schein |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'30.717 | 8.444 |
23 | 75 | Bernd Schneider Kenny Habul |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'30.776 | 8.503 |
24 | 58 | Patrick Long Christina Nielsen |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'30.878 | 8.605 |
25 | 96 | Bill Auberlen Robby Foley |
GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'31.640 | 9.367 |
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