Detroit IMSA: Acura Team Penske locks out front row

Prototype

Montoya, who together with Dane Cameron won the previous round at Mid-Ohio, lapped the 2.35-mile Belle Isle course in 1min19.373sec, clinched pole ahead of fellow Acura ARX-05 driver Castroneves by 0.207sec, despite Helio’s best effort leaving him marginally quicker in Sector 1.

A late effort from Jonathan Bomarito drew the #55 Mazda RT24-P to within 0.4sec of Castroneves and 0.587sec off pole, but saw him edge the #31 Action Express Cadillac DPi-V.R of practice pacesetter Pipo Derani by 0.031sec.

Derani was a quarter second clear of AXR teammate Joao Barbosa, while Renger van der Zande will start the Chevrolet Classic from the outside of the third row in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

Tristan Nunez was a surprising half-second slower than Mazda teammate Bomarito, but that still kept him clear of the two JDC Miller Motorsports Cadillacs and the Juncos Racing Cadillac which was piloted by junior open-wheel star Victor Franzoni.

GT Daytona

Robbie Foley initially took pole for Turner Motorsport in the handsome blue-and-yellow BMW M6, beating Zacharie Robichon in the Park Place Porsche 911 GT3 R by a mere 0.031sec.

However, later in the evening it transpired that the BMW was not compliant with camber regulations when it reached post-qualifying tech inspection and the Foley/Bill Auberlen-driven car will start from the back of the grid. Thus Robichon and Pat Long will start from pole.

These two cars were 0.4sec clear of the two Acura NSXs of Christina Nielsen and Trent Hindman, while Richard Heistand and Frankie Montecalvo were fifth and sixth in the two AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC Fs.

Ryan Hardwick in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan landed seventh ahead of the McLaren 720S of Matt Plumb which was fixed after this morning’s shunt.

John Potter (Magnus Racing Lamborghini) and Cooper MacNeil (Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488) completed the top 10, ahead of Lone Star Racing’s Mercedes AMG GT.

Parker Chase in the Starworks Audi R8 had a suspension issue and had to pit again, and when the pitcrew touched the car, he was consigned to the back of the pack.

Because this is only a Sprint Cup race, rather than a round of the overall GTD championship, the Moorespeed Audi, the Pfaff Porsche and the Riley Mercedes-Benz are all absent. Regular Riley driver Ben Keating is preparing for the Le Mans test on Sunday, driving the GTE Am Ford GT.

Had Park Place not entered – borrowing Robichon from Pfaff in place of Patrick Lindsey who is on Le Mans duty – this would have been the first topline IMSA sportscar race without a Porsche since 1971.

Cla	Num	Driver	Class	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	6	Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya	DPi	Acura DPi	1'19.373
2	7	Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor	DPi	Acura DPi	1'19.580	0.207
3	55	Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell	DPi	Mazda DPi	1'19.960	0.587
4	31	Felipe Nasr Pipo Derani	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'19.991	0.618
5	5	Joao Barbosa Filipe Albuquerque	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'20.239	0.866
6	10	Renger van der Zande Jordan Taylor	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'20.448	1.075
7	77	Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez	DPi	Mazda DPi	1'20.508	1.135
8	84	Simon Trummer Stephen Simpson	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'20.663	1.290
9	50	Will Owen Victor Franzoni	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'21.075	1.702
10	85	Mikhail Goikhberg Tristan Vautier	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'23.313	3.940
11	54	Jon Bennett Colin Braun	DPi	Nissan DPi	1'24.631	5.258
12	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley	GTD	BMW M6 GT3	1'29.704	10.331
13	73	Patrick Long Zacharie Robichon	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'29.735	10.362
14	57	Katherine Legge Christina Nielsen	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'30.126	10.753
15	86	Trent Hindman Mario Farnbacher	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'30.242	10.869
16	14	Richard Heistand Jack Hawksworth	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'30.453	11.080
17	12	Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'30.505	11.132
18	48	Bryan Sellers Ryan Hardwick	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	1'30.763	11.390
19	76	Paul Holton Matt Plumb	GTD	McLaren 720S GT3	1'30.814	11.441
20	44	John Potter Andy Lally	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	1'30.926	11.553
21	63	Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	1'31.953	12.580
22	74	Gar Robinson Lawson Aschenbach	GTD	Mercedes-AMG	1'31.970	12.597
23	8	Parker Chase Ryan Dalziel	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3
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