Front row for the Penske team at Detroit
After triumphs in both classes of the FIA WEC, Team Penske’s 100th sports car pole in Spa-Francorchamps and the success at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in Laguna Seca both Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 will tackle round five, at Detroit, of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from first row. Nick Tandy with #6 did set the fastest lap time in qualifying ahead of his teammate Dane Cameron. .
Both Porsche 963 in first row
📷 © Courtesy of Porsche.
The first 13 minutes of the 15-minute session saw lap times tumble – before the qualifying came to an abrupt halt, when the race director red-flagged the session after a Cadillac spun on the track. Luckily, Le Mans winner Nick Tandy had just turned the fastest lap, with his teammate Dane Cameron posting the second quickest time. This is the first pole position for the Porsche 963 in this year’s IMSA series in North America.
Nick Tandy (Porsche 963 #6): “Mega! We’ve taken the first two grid spots as a team and finally achieved another pole position with our number 6 car. We won the Laguna Seca race recently, now we’re on P1 in Detroit – things look good for us! The weekend is going well so far: great weather, heaps of fans and top track conditions. The teamwork is absolutely flawless and it makes me confident that we can fight for victory tomorrow»
📷 © Courtesy of Porsche.
Dane Cameron (Porsche 963 #7): “Obviously it’s wonderful to lock out the entire front row of the grid. The Porsche Penske Motorsport crew has done an exemplary job. We didn’t expect such a great result – given the track characteristics, we thought we’d be further back. First and second place is a nice surprise. Hopefully, we can get our cars through the first turn in one piece – and then take the flag in positions one and two.” Source: Porsche
Cadillac third in row 2
📷 © Courtesy of IMSA at Detroit 2024.
Sebastien Bourdais was 0.372 sec. short of pole ending qualifying in P3 with #01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 pair fourth and fifth
📷 © Courtesy of IMSA at Detroit 2024.
Filipe Albuquerque will be starting the #10 machine in fourth for WTRAndretti, before handing over to Ricky Taylor for the finish.
Filipe Albuquerque (#10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06) Qualified fourth: "It's great fun to be driving the Acura here. Qualifying on a street course is always fun. The track is always evolving and even if you feel good for one lap, the next lap the delta [target time] will just be faster. On my best lap, I think I was missing just a little bit. On the next lap I was improving a tenth and a half [of a second] in just the first two corners, and I was thinking 'OK, this is going to be a good one' but then the red flag came out [for Pipo Derani's session-ending crash] and I had to bail out of the lap. That was it. Starting P4 is good, but I think I could've done just a little bit better. But I think in the race we can play. Everything is open." Source: Acura
📷 © Courtesy of IMSA at Laguna Seca 2024.
Taylor set the fifth fastest time in the session, just before the red flag came out for the #31 nosing into the tire barriers and coming to a stop on the tight 1.7-mile downtown Detroit street circuit.
Taylor, partnered with teammate Louis Deletraz, will be looking for their second win of the season after taking victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring back in March.
Jordan Taylor (#40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06) Qualified fifth: "I think fourth and fifth are not bad starting positions. Obviously, it's going to be a difficult track to pass on, so the further up [the grid] you can start, the better. We kinda struggled a little bit in practice, especially on the #40 side, but we made some setup changes for qualifying and the Acura was much better. That's the nice thing about having two cars. You can learn something from the other car and apply it to your own. We've got two good race cars for tomorrow."
Related Info
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona and Sebring 2023. Start of IMSA sprint season at Long Beach
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2023. Louis Delétraz charges to victory at Sebring
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2023. Porsche wins Rolex 24
