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Motorsport
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Charles Bradley

IMSA Laguna Seca: Campbell takes pole in Porsche 1-2

Fresh off Porsche Penske Motorsport’s victory at the Long Beach Grand Prix, the 963 took its first GTP pole position since returning to top-level prototype competition.

Campbell lapped the famed 2.238-mile Californian road course under a cloudless sky in 1m14.774s. His #7 963 set the initial benchmark with a lap of 1m14.950s, 0.057s ahead of Pipo Derani’s Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R.

Campbell then lowered the bar to 1m14.774s, with Mathieu Jaminet getting to within 0.09s of the sister car to ensure the Porsche 1-2.

Colin Braun took third in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 with 1m14.979s, before a ragged next lap took him on the rough ride over the kerbs at The Corkscrew.

Derani slipped to fourth, ahead of Ricky Taylor’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura, and the Chip Ganassi-run Caddy of Sebastien Bourdais. The BMW M Hybrids will start seventh and eighth, with Connor De Phillippi ahead of Philipp Eng.

Tijmen van der Helm rounded out the GTP class in JDC-Miller MotorSport’s new customer 963, which was 2.2s off the pace.

Crowdstrike’s George Kurtz set LMP2 pole of 1m19.262s on his very last lap, to pip regular category dominator Ben Keating (PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports) by 0.061s in the eight-car LMP2 entry – although Keating had a faster time deleted for exceeding track limits.

Keating was four tenths quicker than Steven Thomas’s TDS car, the latter escaping a huge slide at The Corkscrew. Thomas starts third, ahead of the second TDS machine of Francois Heriau.

#9 Pfaff Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), GTD PRO: Klaus Bachler, Patrick Pilet (Photo by: Art Fleischmann)

Porsche scores 1-2 in GTD classes

Porsche topped both the GTD Pro and the pro-am GTD classes, which locked out the front row of the GT entry overall.

Daniel Juncadella (WeatherTech Mercedes) set the P1 bar at 1m25.017s, before the Heart of Racing Aston Martins of Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis both beat him with 1m24.776s and 1m24.647s respectively.

They were first split by Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Pro class Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F on 1m24.727s, before Bachler took over at the top with 1m24.529s in the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, and Alec Udell leapt to second – just 0.01s slower – in the pro-am #92 Kellymoss with Riley 911.

On his first taste of Laguna, Bachler just clung on to overall GT pole, ahead of Udell, De Angelis, Riberas, Juncadella and Hawksworth.

Cla Num Driver Class Chassis Time Gap
1 7 Australia Matt Campbell
Brazil Felipe Nasr
GTP Porsche 963 1'14.774  
2 6 United Kingdom Nick Tandy
France Mathieu Jaminet
GTP Porsche 963 1'14.864 0.090
3 60 United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
United States Colin Braun
GTP Acura ARX-06 1'14.979 0.205
4 31 Brazil Pipo Derani
United Kingdom Alexander Sims
GTP Cadillac V-Series.R 1'15.007 0.233
5 10 United States Ricky Taylor
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
GTP Acura ARX-06 1'15.303 0.529
6 01 France Sébastien Bourdais
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
GTP Cadillac V-Series.R 1'15.335 0.561
7 25 United States Connor de Phillippi
United Kingdom Nick Yelloly
GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 1'15.648 0.874
8 24 Austria Philipp Eng
Brazil Augusto Farfus
GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 1'15.747 0.973
9 5 Netherlands Tijmen van der Helm
Germany Mike Rockenfeller
GTP Porsche 963 1'16.995 2.221
10 04 United States George Kurtz
United Kingdom Ben Hanley
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'19.262 4.488
11 52 United States Ben Keating
France Paul-Loup Chatin
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'19.323 4.549
12 11 United States Steven Thomas
Denmark Mikkel Jensen
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'19.718 4.944
13 35 France François Heriau
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'20.475 5.701
14 51 United States Eric Lux
Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'20.625 5.851
15 20 Denmark Dennis Andersen
United Arab Emirates Ed Jones
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'20.655 5.881
16 8 Canada John Farano
Switzerland Louis Deletraz
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'21.055 6.281
17 18 United States Dwight Merriman
United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'21.912 7.138
18 9 Austria Klaus Bachler
France Patrick Pilet
GTD PRO Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'24.529 9.755
19 92 United States Alec Udell
France Julien Andlauer
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'24.539 9.765
20 27 Canada Roman De Angelis
Denmark Marco Sorensen
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1'24.647 9.873
21 23 United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Spain Alex Riberas
GTD PRO Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1'24.654 9.880
22 79 Spain Daniel Juncadella
France Jules Gounon
GTD PRO Mercedes AMG GT3 1'24.706 9.932
23 14 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United Kingdom Ben Barnicoat
GTD PRO Lexus RC F GT3 1'24.727 9.953
24 3 Spain Antonio Garcia
United States Jordan Taylor
GTD PRO Corvette C8.R GTD 1'24.907 10.133
25 80 PJ Hyett
Seb Priaulx
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'25.005 10.231
26 12 United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Aaron Telitz
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1'25.085 10.311
27 1 United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
GTD BMW M4 GT3 1'25.260 10.486
28 32 United States Mike Skeen
Canada Mikael Grenier
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 1'25.433 10.659
29 96 United States Patrick Gallagher
United States Robby Foley
GTD BMW M4 GT3 1'25.440 10.666
30 57 United States Russell Ward
Switzerland Philip Ellis
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 1'25.442 10.668
31 91 Alan Metni
Netherlands Kay van Berlo
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'25.601 10.827
32 70 United States Brendan Iribe
Switzerland Frederik Schandorff
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 EVO 1'25.842 11.068
33 78 Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
Italy Loris Spinelli
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 1'25.927 11.153
34 97 United States Bill Auberlen
Chandler Hull
GTD BMW M4 GT3 1'26.227 11.453
35 94 United States Jarett Andretti
Colombia Gabby Chaves
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1'26.289 11.515
36 66 Sheena Monk
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'26.363 11.589
37 77 United States Alan Brynjolfsson
United States Trent Hindman
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'26.365 11.591
38 44 United States John Potter
United States Andy Lally
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1'26.415 11.641
 
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