In the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship, not even qualifying sessions go without the utmost on-track action. Pipo Derani made the best of a tense session that saw everything from accidents, red flags, and copious penalties to put his #22 Tequila Petron ESM Nissan DPi on pole Friday at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with a time of 1:22.273.
“The bumpy track didn’t suit our car, but we worked hard on it,” Derani told IMSA Radio after the session. “These guys deserve this.”
Already having claimed a victory in 2018 at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Tequila Patron ESM is out to show they are contenders for the title. With Scott Sharp in the #2 making contact with three-time Detroit winner Helio Castoneves and Derani taking the pole by over half a second, the team means business heading into tomorrow’s race.
“We’re showing that we can go head-to-head with these guys,” Derani said. “Hopefully we have a clean race. Starting on pole definitely helps.”
While the Mid-Ohio winning Team Penske #7 of Castroneves hinted at a continuing dominance with a fast run early on, a pit infraction saw his chances at a final hot lap squandered as serving a penalty would keep the car from registering another lap.
As Robert Alon made contact with the T4 wall to bring out the red flag, it would appear that the Acura DPi of Team Penske would have a chance to reclaim the pole, but ultimately fell short.
Bryan Sellers of the current GTD points-leading Paul Miller Racing put the #48 Lamborghini he shares with Madison Snow with a blinding 1:28.942. The lap, nearly half a second faster that Katherine Legge, is the fastest recorded lap in the GTD class at the Detroit street course.
“One checkmark done, now the big one remains,” Sellers told IMSA Radio. “We’re really, really happy. We made a change after that second session, and it really brought this car to life.”
Top 5 Prototype Session Results
Pipo Derani – 1:22.273
Juan Pablo Montoya – 1:22.790
Helio Castroneves – 1:23.275
Joao Barbosa – 1:23.278
Misha Goikhberg – 1:23.384
Top 5 GTD Session Results
Bryan Sellers – 1:28.942
Katherine Legge – 1:29.390
Justin Marks – 1:29.717
Dominik Baumann – 1:29.787
David Heinemeier Hansson – 1:30.114
Discussion about this post