Deletraz and WTR lead Cadillac front-row lockout in Laguna Seca

The pole sitting No.40 WTR Cadillac in Long Beach Credit: Dominic Loyer

Louis Deletraz has given Wayne Taylor Racing and Cadillac pole position for the IMSA Monterey Sportscar Championship weekend in his No.40 machine. Jack Aitken in the No.31 Cadillac made it a Cadillac 1-2.

In GTD Pro it was Jack Hawksworth in the No.14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus that took pole, with Lorenzo Patrese in the No.34 Conquest Racing Ferrari on pole in GTD.

As it happened

GTD

So 15 minutes on the clock for the GTDs got us going at 18:10 local time. All of the cars were quickly out onto the circuit, getting their tyres and brakes up to temperature.

A few cars chose to scrub a set of tyres for the race tomorrow, coming into the pits at the first time of asking.

The No.34 Ferrari was at the top early on, but the cars still weren't in the prime operating window, so Patrese's time in the Conquest car wasn't fully representative.

The No.66 and No.16 Fords went much quicker not long after, Jake Walker ahead of Sheena Monk in that order. Patrese went quicker though, a 1:22.5 beginning to set more of a pace.

Dudu Barrichello moved into second, three tenths back in the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. The Italian in the Italian car improved again though, down to a 1:21.9.

Danny Formal went third in the No.45 Lamborghini with a 1:22.1, just 0.03 slower than Barrichello's latest time. He improved again though, but not before Patrese found another two tenths as well.

Formal caught the No.81 DragonSpeed Corvette in the final corner, and lost some time on the exit with five minutes to go. That lap was still an improvement though, once again marginally behind Barrichello.

The Wayne Taylor Lamborghini driver found that time again though, finally jumping Barrichello, and getting himself just 0.02 behind Patrese, who just pit at the same time, nothing left in the tyres.

The No.12 Lexus of Benjamin Pederson had an off into the gravel at turn five, but was able to rejoin the track quickly.

Formal pitted with a minute to go too, signalling the end of the session early. No one could improve at the end of the session.

The No.34 Conquest Racing Ferrari at Long Beach I Credit: Dominic Loyer

So it will be the No.34 Conquest Ferrari on pole in GTD tomorrow, alongside Formal in the Lamborghini. Then comes Barrichello, Russell Ward in the No.57 Mercedes and Pederson in the Lexus.

GTD Pro

Another 15 minutes for the second of the GT classes in Laguna Seca this weekend.

The start of the session told the same story as in GTD, everyone out and trying to get some heat into the tyres and brakes before pushing on. A few teams also chose to scrub some tyres.

In contrast to the GTD session, this session was for the Pro drivers, so you could expect the lap times to be a bit lower than those in the previous session.

Neil Verhagen was straight on the pace in the No.1 Paul Miller BMW, putting in a 1:21.3 early on. About halfway through he chose to come into the pits for a new set of tyres, in comparison to the rest of the pitters who came in after 1-2 laps.

Not long after, his lap got taken off him for track limits.

Max Esterton took over the top time then with his 1:21.8, with Tommy Milner in the No.4 Corvette in second about a tenth back. The Lamborghini Temerario No.9 in the hands of Sandy Mitchell was third, but the Briton quickly improved to a 1:21.6 to go top of the session.

Hawksworth in the No.14 Lexus improved by half a tenth on Mitchell's time. Harry King in the No.77 Porsche and Chris Mies in the No.65 Ford slotted into third and fourth, with Antonio Garcia in the No.3 Corvette splitting them a lap later.

Hawksworth also improved on his provisional pole time by a tenth and a half, with Mitchell unable to respond.

Milner had a brief off on the exit of turn five in his Pratt Miller Corvette. At the same time, King, Mies and then Verhagen all had a brief second in second place, with the BMW holding it with 30 seconds to go.

Credit: Brandon Badraoui

No one else could improve on their final laps though, despite a purple sector 2 from Verhagen. So the No.14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus will lead the GT field to green tomorrow, ahead of the No.1 BMW. Then comes the No.65 Ford, No.77 Porsche and No.3 Corvette.

GTP

Last but certainly not least were the 11 GTP cars. The fastest cars in the IMSA garage, these would be the absolute best times of the weekend at Laguna Seca.

Felipe Albuquerque in the No.10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac had an early scare, the rear getting all out of shape on the exit of the final corner. The Portugese driver was able to hold onto it though and keep going on his warm-up phase.

The first representative time came from Aitken in the No.31 Whelen Cadillac, six tenths quicker than Dries Vanthoor in the No.24 BMW and Nick Yelloly in the No.93 Acura who were split by half a tenth in second and third.

Deletraz in the No.40 Cadillac did a 1:14 flat to jump into second place. Yelloly went a tenth slower into third, as Aitken was going quicker in the first part of the lap. That ended up being a 1:13.7, but Deletraz put in a 13.5 to get onto provisional pole.

Yelloly split the Cadillacs with a 13.6, with Vanthoor in fourth. The Belgian improved by a few tenths though, going marginally quicker than Aitken for third.

Aitken improved to second again with two an a half minutes left, just 0.016 seconds behind Deletraz who was improving again. He found another two tenths, down to a 13.2 with just over a minute and a half left.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

In the final laps though, no one could find anymore time in the lap. So the No.40 WTR car will lead the field to green tomorrow, with Aitken in the No.31 making it a Cadillac front-row lock-out.

Then came the No.93 Acura of Yelloly, the No.24 BMW and the No.60 Acura rounding out the top five.

Then came the No.23 Aston Martin Valkyrie in the hands of Ross Gunn, the No.10 WTR Cadillac, then came the No.6 and No.7 Porsche Penskes. The No.25 BMW and the No.5 JDC Porsche will make up the back row.