[h=2]No slowing Cadillac: WTR on Long Beach pole[/h] Friday, 07 April 2017


By Marshall Pruett (words and images)

With two straight wins and a pair of pole positions for Cadillac's DPi-V.R, including one today by Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry on the streets of Long Beach, the class of the Prototype field is proving to be immune to Balance of Performance changes.

The three Cadillacs were slowed again by IMSA coming into the first street race on the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar after the WTR DPi-V.R won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, but the efforts to contain the Dallara-based prototype were thwarted by Taylor (1m13.549s) and Action Express Racing's Christian Fittipaldi in the No. 5 Cadillac (+0.204s) as the brand locked out the front row.

"We've had such a great car and it makes it so much more stressful for us to get the job done," Taylor said. "They give us a winning car every time. It's good to be back here on pole. It means so much with how hard it is to pass."

Set in front of countless employees from its nearby national headquarters, Mazda shined in qualifying as Tristan Nunez captured third with his No. 55 RT24-P DPi (+0.579s) and JDC-Miller Motorsports Misha Goikhberg rocked the Prototype establishment by taking fourth (+0.859) in the No. 85 ORECA-Gibson WEC P2 ahead of the second AXR Cadillac, the second Mazda and both Nissan Onroak DPis.

Crashes marred the GT Le Mans class in the run-up to qualifying and at the conclusion of the session as Patrick Pilet clouted the Turn 9 exit barrier with his No. 911 RSR during the pre-qualifying practice session. The Frenchman's accident halved the chances for the Porsche GT Team to claim pole, and with just 50 seconds remaining in the session, IMSA threw the red flag in reaction to a bodywork-shedding incident involving Richard Westbrook's No. 67 Ford GT and the end of a tire barrier.

With the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing car leaving its rear wing and left-rear fender in the middle of the circuit, IMSA halted qualifying while the sister No. 66 Ford GT was on a mission to dislodge Jan Magnussen's No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R from pole. In the end, the 50 seconds remaining was not enough time for cars to return to the track and complete a flying lap, and the Dane was left to celebrate his pole (1m16.909s) by edging Joey Hand in the No. 66 (+0.092s) and Risi Competizione's Toni Vilander (+0.134s) with the No. 62 Ferrari 488 in third
"Very, very, very happy," Magnussen said. "Great qualifying, the car was fantastic. Had I needed to find some more, I would have tried."
The eight-car GTLM field was covered by 0.578 seconds.
Paul Miller Racing's Bryan Sellers was the class of the GT Daytona field in his No. 48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3, just as it was during the two-hour morning practice session.
"The last lap, that's it; we had nothing left," Sellers said after scoring his first pole of the year. The diminutive American (1m19.243s) knocked 3GT's Jack Hawksworth off the pole in the waning moments of the 15-minute session, and despite any disappointment he might have felt, the front row starting spot for the No. 15 Lexus RC F (+0.033s) was nothing less than impressive for the brand-new program.
Alegra Motorsports was a late addition to the Long Beach entry list and the Rolex 24 at Daytona class winners were rewarded for making the cross-country trip with the blast to third (+0.132s) by Canada's Daniel Morad.
Like GTLM, and in what has become an expectation in GTD, the top 12 were covered by less than one second – 0.999s – to be exact.
The gaps in the Prototype class are significant, but with so many GT cars running in lockstep, Saturday's Bubba Burger Grand Prix could see ferocious battles among the door bangers. And can the WTR team open the DPi era with a hat trick? Tune in and watch it unfold live on FOX Sports 1 starting at 1 p.m. PT.