Two drivers that have already proven their mettle in qualifying this season will be sitting on pole for Saturday’s 1h40m IMSA SportsCar Grand Prix of Long Beach. Pipo Derani scored his third consecutive pole of 2024 to head GTP, while Parker Thompson claimed his second GTD pole following his qualifying performance for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Derani ended qualifying for the third round of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with a slightly rearranged nose on the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R after setting his 1m11.388s (99.24mph) time early in the session before the crew slapped on a new set of tires. But while going for another flyer, he nosed it into the Turn 9 tire wall. Fortunately he was able to reverse quickly – something he and his engineers had discussed during the track walk – and avoided causing a red flag that would also cost him his fast lap.
Nick Yelloly and Sebastien Bourdais were on different qualifying strategies, both waiting until late in the session to emerge from the pits and attempt to put in a lap. Yelloly fell a mere 0.009s short of grabbing the pole for the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8, which will start on the outside of the second row.
The late-session strategy nearly bit Bourdais, who had a fast lap balked by Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche 963, which has struggled for pace all day. He started his next lap with only seconds left in the session, and posted a 1m11.411s time in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, 0.023s off pole, to start on the inside of the second row.
“It’s it’s a street track and it’s a very difficult one to pass on, so I’m happy with the lap,” said Derani. “I did it early in the session, and some guys left it to try towards the end, but the lap seemed to be enough – just enough – for pole, which was good. But yeah, on a street track like this in 100 minute race it’s always important to start off on pole.”
Nick Tandy, the defending Long Beach winner with Mathieu Jaminet in the No, 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, will start outside the second row.
Tandy’s teammate Dane Cameron put the No. 7 PPM 963 on the inside of the third row, and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti finally found enough pace for Jordan Taylor to qualify the No. 40 Acura ARX-06 in sixth. The GTP field, minus the No. 5 Porsche, was separated by only 0.611s.
Despite good conditions that led to a new track record in GTD, as well as a softer Michelin tire, Derani’s time was nearly 1.5s off Filipe Albuquerque’s pole time from last year, which Derani put down to track conditions.
“I don’t know … We had the same at Sebring,” Derani said. “We were slower than last year, but I believe it’s mostly down to track conditions, and at Sebring we had a short qualifying session due to the red flags. But here it could be down to just the rubber that’s been laid down by the Indy cars and the other categories as well. I quite honestly didn’t feel like the track evolved as much as it did last year.”