Porsche took a 1-2 in qualifying for the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship round at Laguna Seca, with Matt Campbell in the #7 Porsche on pole with a 1:14.774.
The two Porsche dominated the GTP session, setting their times early with the Cadillacs, Acuras and BMWs all unable to beat them.
Mathieu Jaminet took second in the sister #6 Porsche, just under a tenth behind his teammate.
Colin Braun took third, the best of the rest in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06. He was the early leader, setting the fastest time then improving it the next lap around. But Campbell then set a lap time seven tenths faster to go to the top, which he’d later improve on by almost two tenths to take pole.
#31 Action Express cadillac V.Series-R’s Pipo Derani took fourth, just a few hundredths slower than Braun. In fifth was Ricky Taylor in the #10 Wayne Taylor Acura ARX-06, a couple of tenths off Derani.
In LMP2, George Kurtz took his first ever IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship pole in the #04 CrowdStrike Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, pipping qualifying maestro Ben Keating to the post.
Keating was quickest for much of the session, setting a succession of quick laps in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07-Gibson, and looked set to take pole at the Californian race track. He set a 1:18.891, eight tenths faster than anyone else in the last couple of minutes — but this lap was deleted as the Texan had exceeded track limits through the lap. He still held pole, though, with his 19.323 seemingly unbeatable.
Kurtz, though, had saved his tyres and burned off excess fuel. He went for one last lap and pipped Keating by under a tenth, to take pole, with a 1:19.262.
With Keating second, Steven Thomas took third in the #11 TDS Oreca 07-Gibson, more than half a second off Keating.
In the GT classes, GTD Pro and GTD, two Porsches took pole, Klaus Bachler in the #9 Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3 R in GTD Pro and the #92 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 R with Alex Udell on board in GTD.
The two were separated by just a hundredth of a second, Bachelor in front of Udell, despite the difference in class, although the machinery is identical.
Roman de Angelis was second in GTD and third in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, just over a tenth of a second behind Udell. The young Canadian was fastest overall for a good while, before Bachler and Udell were able to pip him.
Alex Riberas, in the sister GTD Pro-entered #23 Heart of Racing Aston, was second in GTD Pro and third in GT overall, with a 1:24.654. Daniel Juncadela was third GTD Pro and fourth in GT, just a few hundredths off Riberas.
Third in GTD and fifth in GT overall was Seb Priaulx in the #80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.
