Nick Yelloly takes overall pole

Nick Yelloly stormed to pole in a furious round of IMSA qualifying for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The Briton, who shares Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s #93 Acura ARX-06 with Renger van der Zande, blitzed the field with a flying lap of 1m11.626s around the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit.

BMW M Team WRT’s Marco Wittmann, in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, ended up second by a slim 0.030s lap. Louis Deletraz overcame a late off to take third int he #40 Cadillac V-Series.R for Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing.

Porsche Penske Motorsport, winners of the opening two rounds at Daytona and Sebring, respectively, struggled in qualifying with Julien Andlauer putting the #7 Porsche 963 fifth, with Kevin Estre ending up eighth in the #6 sister car.

GTP
#25 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann, Frederik Vesti

#25 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann, Frederik Vesti

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

Nick Yelloly fired the first shot with a 1m11.756s flyer in Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s #93 Acura ARX-06 with roughly seven minutes remaining.

With four minutes left, the likes of Deletraz went off in Turn 6, while Dries Vanthoor (BMW M Team WRT) went off in 1. Both continued on. Meanwhile, Yelloly went even quicker at 1m11.626s lap to retain first.

The #7 Porsche 963 for Porsche Penske Motorsport of Andlauer went off in Turn 6 with just over a minute remaining, but also continued on.

GTD — Lexus P1 before technical infraction
#89 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Frankie Montecalvo, Patrick Gallagher

#89 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Frankie Montecalvo, Patrick Gallagher

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

Vasser Sullivan’s Frankie Montecalvo delivered a last-gasp qualifying effort and nipped the top spot at the every end, delivering a 1m18.411s flying lap to take pole in the #89 Lexus RC F GT3. It marks the third consecutive year Vasser Sullivan has claimed the class pole in Long Beach.

In his first GTD appearance of the season, Robert Wickens will line up on the front row. Driving the #36 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R for DXDT Racing, the Canadian took the top spot in the final seconds before being nipped by Montecalvo by 0.151s.

UPDATE: However, the #89 was found to have a ground clearance violation in post-qualifying inspection, sending the Lexus to the rear of the grid. That means DXDT Racing and Wickens inherit the pole position.

Danny Formal, who was the first driver to deliver a sub-1m19s lap in the session, will start second in Wayne Taylor Racing’s #45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

Heart of Racing’s Spencer Pumpelly was third in the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, followed Winward Racing’s Russell Ward in the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Orey Fidani nearly threw it away by crashing five minutes into the session, spinning the 13 Autosport #13 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R in the final corner. Fortunately, he was able to keep it off the wall and darted straight to pit lane for service that included a tire change.

Race Control deemed he drove the opposite way to get to pit lane and black flagged him, disqualifying him from the remainder of the session and leaving him to start 17th in class.

Note: Every GTD entry behind the #89 moves up one position

Photos from Long Beach – Friday