IMSA: All-Acura Front Row at Laguna Seca

Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque scored his first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole position, and the team’s third pole of the season for Acura, in qualifying at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The reigning Rolex 24 at Daytona winners for Albuquerque and co-driver Ricky Taylor will lead the pack around the 2.238-mile track in their #10 Acura ARX-05 prototype, followed by fellow Acura DPi drivers Dane Cameron and Olivier Pla in the Meyer Shank Racing machine.

The pole position marks the Wayne Taylor Racing team’s fourth consecutive front-row start in 2021, and gives Honda Performance Development a double front row sweep between IMSA and INDYCAR today—following Alex Palou and Alexander Rossi’s front-row lockout in qualifying for the Portland Grand Prix.

No. 3 Corvette Takes GTLM Pole

Corvette Racing’s Jordan Taylor won his second straight GT Le Mans (GTLM) pole position at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Saturday, setting a track record in the process.

Taylor, driving the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R with Antonio Garcia, set a lap of 1:21.151 (99.281 mph) ahead of Sunday’s Hyundai Sports Car Championship to best his qualifying mark from 2020 by 0.332 seconds.

#3: Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R, GTLM: Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor

Tommy Milner made it a 1-2 for Corvette Racing and just missed claiming pole position for he and Nick Tandy in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R. Milner’s best lap was a 1:21.267 (99.139 mph) and also below last year’s pole time as well.

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM POLE-WINNER: “It was good. We were a little bit behind the 4 car all weekend. They seemed to be a little bit stronger throughout practice. We made some big changes in Practice 2 and even into qualifying to separate the two setups (for qualifying and the race). We found some things for pure laptime but I don’t think they’re going to work for a race setup. It’s nice to get the pole and get those points. We have an idea of what we need to do for the race from a setup point of view. So it’s nice to start out front but at the same time, I think tomorrow is going to be a different picture.”

KEYS TO WINNING THE RACE: “Last year was our first year here with this new Corvette. Having that under our belt and understanding more about tire degradation, what tire compound to be on and the strategy of when to pit when we’re catching GTD cars (are important). Every year we are learning new lessons. We learned a lot last year and already have learned a lot through yesterday and today. We’re in good shape but at the same time, you never know what’s going to happen in these races with yellows and the different strategies. We’ll have to stay on top of our game.”

Qualifying Results

Pos Driver Class Chassis Time Behind
1 Ricky Taylor/Filipe Albuquerque DPi Acura DPi 1m14.441s 0.000s
2 Dane Cameron/Olivier Pla DPi Acura DPi 1m14.464s 0.023s
3 Renger van der Zande/Kevin Magnussen DPi Cadillac DPi 1m15.026s 0.585s
4 Oliver Jarvis/Harry Tincknell DPi Mazda DPi 1m15.052s 0.611s
5 Felipe Nasr/Pipo Derani DPi Cadillac DPi 1m15.384s 0.943s
6 Tristan Vautier/Loic Duval DPi Cadillac DPi 1m15.451s 1.010s
7 Ben Keating/Mikkel Jensen LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1m17.227s 2.786s
8 Dwight Merriman/Ryan Dalziel LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1m19.873s 5.432s
9 Thomas Steven/Tristan Nunez LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1m19.894s 5.453s
10 Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor GTLM Corvette C8.R 1m21.151s 6.710s
11 Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy GTLM Corvette C8.R 1m21.267s 6.826s
12 John Farano/Gabriel Aubry LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1m21.563s 7.122s
13 Cooper MacNeil/Matt Campbell GTLM Porsche 911 RSR – 19 1m21.931s 7.490s
14 Trent Hindman/Patrick Long GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1m24.505s 10.064s
15 Bill Auberlen/Robby Foley GTD BMW M6 GT3 1m24.568s 10.127s
16 Roman De Angelis/Ross Gunn GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1m24.591s 10.150s
17 Bryan Sellers/Madison Snow GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1m24.711s 10.270s
18 Richard Heistand/Jeff Westphal GTD Audi R8 LMS GT3 1m24.751s 10.310s
19 Zacharie Robichon/Laurens Vanthoor GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1m24.754s 10.313s
20 Aaron Telitz/Jack Hawksworth GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1m24.802s 10.361s
21 Ian James/Alex Riberas GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1m25.385s 10.944s
22 Frankie Montecalvo/Zach Veach GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1m25.600s 11.159s
23 Rob Ferriol/Katherine Legge GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1m25.813s 11.372s
24 Mario Farnbacher/Jacob Abel GTD Acura NSX GT3 1m25.875s 11.434s
25 John Potter/Andy Lally GTD Acura NSX GT3 1m26.613s 12.172s
26 Till Bechtolsheimer/Marc Miller GTD Acura NSX GT3 No Time No Time