Bourdais Ends Derani's Pole Streak at Laguna Seca
Words by Matthew Boyce Cover image by Jake Galstad/IMSA
Sebastien Bourdais extended and ended a pole streak Saturday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca as he piloted his No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R to the fastest time to claim the pole for Sunday's Motul Course de Monterey presented by Hyundai N. While Bourdais ended Pipo Derani's season long stranglehold on top starting spot, Bourdais extended the 2024 season long streak with a Cadillac on pole.
Bourdais laid down a lap of 1:12.445 which was only 0.112 seconds clear of Pipo Derani's No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R. With the circuit receiving a repave last season, the lap set by Bourdais was also a track record 2.329 seconds clear of the previous record. The No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng qualified in third position, while Mathieu Jaminet qualified his No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 in fourth. Rounding out the top five in the GTP class was Eng's teammate Connor De Phillippi in the second Team RLL BMW.
IMSA/Galstad
The GTD Pro class will be led to the green flag Sunday by both Corvette Racing by Pratt and Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R machines piloted by Nicky Catsburg and Antonio Garcia. Catsburg's lap of 1:19.727 was only 0.311 seconds clear of teammate Garcia, and the first pole position for the new Corvette GT3 machine. Like the GTP class, the pole time set by Catsburg was over three seconds clear of the previous track record.
Marvin Kirchhoffer, driving the Pfaff Motorsports No. 9 McLaren 720S GT3, qualified in third in the GTD Pro class. The No. 9 has a new paint scheme this weekend paying tribute to the red and white livery piloted by Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna. Following Kirchhoffer was the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth while the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Seb Priaulx rounded out the top five.
In the GTD class, Danny Formal took top honors in class in his No. 45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 to edge Patrick Gallagher in his No. 557 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3. Formal was only 0.129 seconds faster than Gallagher on the speed charts. Russell Ward will start in third in his No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo.
The Motul Course de Monterey presented by Hyundai N takes the green flag Sunday at 12 p.m. PDT (3 p.m. EDT) with live coverage on Peacock, NBC and IMSA Radio.
