In GTD qualifying, a red flag with four minutes remaining put teams in limbo. In GTLM, a driver was forced to navigate backwards. And when the prototypes took their turn, it was a stomach-wrenching waiting game.
So there was enough drama to go around at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca as qualifying rounds determined the grid for Sunday's IMSA SportsCar Championship race.
Ricky Taylor played the waiting game, choosing to roll from the pits several minutes after the other prototypes. "We knew we had the pace for the pole, but it was difficult to get a clean lap," he says. The driver of the no. 7 Acura Team Penske prototype recorded a fast time of 1:15.035, quick enough to break the track record set a year ago by his brother Jordan.
But Taylor recorded the lap with six minutes to go in the qualifying session. Waiting while other drivers have a go at your time? "It's the worst," Taylor says. "You know in your mind there was nothing else in the car." Meanwhile, although the team calculated that no other driver would improve, the is the element of doubt.
In GTLM, Jesse Krohn also set a qualifying time record, recording a quick lap of 1:21:557 in his Team RLL BMW. The team took a risk, giving the car just enough fuel for two laps, and Krohn pulled into the pits early.
"I felt like the first lap was good enough," he points out.
He was right. And he missed the real drama of the session, when Nick Tandy spun his Porsche 911 in the Corkscrew. With no outlet other than gravel traps, Tandy drove his car backwards down the twisting, plunging segment of the course until he could pull off and turn around.
The miscue upset the laps of several drivers, including the no. 912 team car driven by Laurens Vanthoor.
In GTD, Patrick Lindsey skidded off the track and slammed his Park Place Porsche into a concrete barrier. That interrupted Corey Lewis' hot lap in his Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan. When the track was cleared, Lewis crossed the line just in time to gain one more lap, which turned out to be his fastest.
"The red flag threw us into a loop," Lewis says. "We'll see what tomorrow brings."
The IMSA SportsCar Championship takes place Sunday at 12:05pm.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.