Pipo Derani has taken pole position for the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring in the Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-VR, while Corvette and Lexus dominated qualifying in GTLM and GTD respectively.
Derani outqualified the #6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 of Juan Pablo Montoya, with the Brazilian setting a 01:46:733 to take the top spot, just over two-tenths clear of Montoya.
Renger van der Zande set a pair of quickest laps in the early stages of the session, but was ultimately bested by Derani and Montoya and had to settle for third place in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac. Tristan Nunez set the fourth fastest time in the #77 Mazda RT24-P, nearly half a second off the pole tim.
Sebastien Bourdais completed the top five in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-VR, while the JDC-Miller Cadillac of Stephen Simpson and the #55 Mazda of Jonathan Bomarito filled the back row of the DPi grid.
Kelly beats Hedman
Patrick Kelly kickstarted his return to IMSA competition in the best way possible by taking the pole position in LMP2, sending the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07-Gibson round Sebring International Raceway in a time of 01:51:526.
Kelly set the pace early on but was briefly topped by the #81 Dragonspeed ORECA of Henrik Hedman, before a pair of fast laps put the Californian back on top and nearly half a second clear of his nearest rival.
Hedman qualified second for Dragonspeed in the car he shares with Rebellion WEC driver Gustavo Menezes.
Cameron Cassels set the third fastest time for Performance Tech Motorsport, ahead of the #8 Tower Motorsport by Starworks car of John Farano. Dwight Merriman, who recently signed with IDEC Sport to compete in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, brought up the rear in LMP2.
Corvette and Lexus dominate
Corvette Racing and AIM Vasser Sullivan dominated qualifying in their respective classes, scoring a front row lockout in GTLM and GTD.
In GTLM, a series of fast laps from Jordan Taylor put the #3 Corvette C8.R on pole position. Taylor, off the back of taking Corvette’s 100th IMSA win two weeks ago, broke the GTLM lap record at Sebring en route to setting a 01:55:634 to take pole, a time that would be touched by any other runners.
Team-mate Oliver Gavin came closest, but his best effort of 01:56:015 in the #4 Corvette C8.R was still nearly half a second off Taylor’s pole time.
Porsche, which set the pace in the two practice session, was surprisingly unable to challenge the Corvette duo for pole. The best effort came from the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Fred Makowiecki, who came in third with a 01:56:079, while team-mate Laurens Vanthoor was another three-tenths further back.
BMW brought up the rear in class, with the #24 M8 GTE of Jesse Krohn ahead of the #25 of Bruno Spengler.
AIM Vasser Sullivan meanwhile continued their strong form since returning from lockdown with a one-two in GTD qualifying.
Frankie Montecalvo led the way in the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 by setting a 02:01:190, which put him just under six-hundredths of a second up on his team-mate Aaron Telitz in the #14 sister car.
The rest of the GTD field was unable to match the pace set by the Lexus pair. Cooper MacNeil came closest with a series of quick laps late in the session, although his best effort of 02:02:069 was still eight-tenths behind Telitz and nearly a full second off the pole time. The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo will start third.
Robby Foley qualified fourth in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3, while the top five was rounded out by the #76 Compass Racing McLaren 720S GT3 of Corey Fergus.
