Dries Vanthoor took a third consecutive IMSA pole position for both himself and BMW, qualifying the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 on pole for the Long Beach sportscar race this weekend.
The Belgian set a 1:11.539 to go over two tenths faster than his teammate, Sheldon van der Linde, in the sister #25 BMW.
Third fastest was Nick Tandy in the #7 Porsche 963, the only other car, besides the BMWs, to get into the 1:11s. However, he was still almost half a second off D. Vanthoor.
The BMWs dominated the session, with S. van der Linde initially fastest with five minutes to go.
However, D. Vanthoor was soon able to overhaul the South African, and he just continued to improve until he was able to set his eventual pole time.
Fourth fastest was Tandy’s teammate in the #6 Porsche, Mathieu Jaminet, with a 1:12.268.
Fifth was Nick Yelloly in the fastest of the Acuras, the #60 machine, a 1:12.414, with his teammate Tom Blomqvist sixth in the sister #93. Cadillac’s Jack Aitken, in the #31 Action Express Cadillac, and Filipe Albuquerque in the #310 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, were seventh and eight. Ninth went to Tijmen van der Helm in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche.
Louis Deletraz was 10th in the sister #40 WTR Cadillac, while Ross Gunn was 11th in the lone #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie.
See here for the full results – READ MORE: Parker Thompson beats ‘Rexy’ to GTD pole for IMSA Long Beach sprint
