Ricky Taylor has taken pole position for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, beating out championship rival Renger van der Zande for the final pole position of the 2020 IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship.
Taylor posted a time of 01:46:874 in the #7 Acura ARX-05, putting the championship leader in prime position for Saturday’s title decider. Van der Zande posted the second fastest time in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-VR, 0.251s behind Taylor.
The two title rivals will be starting from the front row for the 68th running of the Florida endurance classic, with Taylor’s team-mate Dane Cameron behind in third place.
Sebastien Bourdais qualified fourth for Mustang Sampling Racing, ahead of the #55 Mazda RT24-P of Harry Tincknell in fifth place. Pipo Derani, winner of last year’s race, will start from sixth. The #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-VR of Matheus Leist brought up the rear in class.
Patrick Kelly continued his excellent 2020 qualifying record by adding another pole position in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07-Gibson, lapping in 01:51:373. Kelly was nearly two seconds faster than Inter Europol Competition’s Naveen Rao.
After topping all three practice sessions, Porsche was unable to convert that form into qualifying in GTLM as Corvette Racing once again led the class in qualifying.
Antonio Garcia posted the quickest time in the #3 Corvette C8.R. The Spaniard’s 01:55:546 was fast enough to take pole position by a comfortable margin of 0.660s.
Connor De Philippi took second in the #25 BMW M8 GTE, with team-mate Jesse Krohn in third. Tommy Milner put the #4 Corvette C8.R in fourth place, with the two Porsches fifth and sixth.
Porsche was able to take pole position in GTD, thanks to Jan Heylen in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Belgian put in a lap of 02:00:844, which was enough to outqualify Team Hardpoint’s Andrew Davis by seven-tenths of a second.
Aaron Telitz qualified third in the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, with Richard Heistand fourth in the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo. The top five was completed by Cooper Macneil in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo.
