Fresh off Porsche Penske Motorsport’s victory at the Long Beach Grand Prix, the 963 took its first GTP pole position since returning to top-level prototype competition.
Campbell lapped the famed 2.238-mile Californian road course under a cloudless sky in 1m14.774s. His #7 963 set the initial benchmark with a lap of 1m14.950s, 0.057s ahead of Pipo Derani’s Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R.
Campbell then lowered the bar to 1m14.774s, with Mathieu Jaminet getting to within 0.09s of the sister car to ensure the Porsche 1-2.
Colin Braun took third in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 with 1m14.979s, before a ragged next lap took him on the rough ride over the kerbs at The Corkscrew.
Derani slipped to fourth, ahead of Ricky Taylor’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura, and the Chip Ganassi-run Caddy of Sebastien Bourdais. The BMW M Hybrids will start seventh and eighth, with Connor De Phillippi ahead of Philipp Eng.
Tijmen van der Helm rounded out the GTP class in JDC-Miller MotorSport’s new customer 963, which was 2.2s off the pace.
Crowdstrike’s George Kurtz set LMP2 pole of 1m19.262s on his very last lap, to pip regular category dominator Ben Keating (PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports) by 0.061s in the eight-car LMP2 entry – although Keating had a faster time deleted for exceeding track limits.
Keating was four tenths quicker than Steven Thomas’s TDS car, the latter escaping a huge slide at The Corkscrew. Thomas starts third, ahead of the second TDS machine of Francois Heriau.
Porsche scores 1-2 in GTD classes
Porsche topped both the GTD Pro and the pro-am GTD classes, which locked out the front row of the GT entry overall.
Daniel Juncadella (WeatherTech Mercedes) set the P1 bar at 1m25.017s, before the Heart of Racing Aston Martins of Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis both beat him with 1m24.776s and 1m24.647s respectively.
They were first split by Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Pro class Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F on 1m24.727s, before Bachler took over at the top with 1m24.529s in the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, and Alec Udell leapt to second – just 0.01s slower – in the pro-am #92 Kellymoss with Riley 911.
On his first taste of Laguna, Bachler just clung on to overall GT pole, ahead of Udell, De Angelis, Riberas, Juncadella and Hawksworth.
| Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |
 Matt Campbell  Felipe Nasr |
GTP | Porsche 963 | 1'14.774 | |
| 2 | 6 |
 Nick Tandy  Mathieu Jaminet |
GTP | Porsche 963 | 1'14.864 | 0.090 |
| 3 | 60 |
Tom Blomqvist  Colin Braun |
GTP | Acura ARX-06 | 1'14.979 | 0.205 |
| 4 | 31 |
Pipo Derani Alexander Sims |
GTP | Cadillac V-Series.R | 1'15.007 | 0.233 |
| 5 | 10 |
Ricky Taylor  Filipe Albuquerque |
GTP | Acura ARX-06 | 1'15.303 | 0.529 |
| 6 | 01 |
Sébastien Bourdais  Renger van der Zande |
GTP | Cadillac V-Series.R | 1'15.335 | 0.561 |
| 7 | 25 |
Connor de Phillippi Nick Yelloly |
GTP | BMW M Hybrid V8 | 1'15.648 | 0.874 |
| 8 | 24 |
 Philipp Eng Augusto Farfus |
GTP | BMW M Hybrid V8 | 1'15.747 | 0.973 |
| 9 | 5 |
Tijmen van der Helm  Mike Rockenfeller |
GTP | Porsche 963 | 1'16.995 | 2.221 |
| 10 | 04 |
George Kurtz Ben Hanley |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'19.262 | 4.488 |
| 11 | 52 |
Ben Keating Paul-Loup Chatin |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'19.323 | 4.549 |
| 12 | 11 |
Steven Thomas  Mikkel Jensen |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'19.718 | 4.944 |
| 13 | 35 |
François Heriau Giedo van der Garde |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'20.475 | 5.701 |
| 14 | 51 |
Eric Lux  Juan Pablo Montoya |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'20.625 | 5.851 |
| 15 | 20 |
Dennis Andersen  Ed Jones |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'20.655 | 5.881 |
| 16 | 8 |
 John Farano  Louis Deletraz |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'21.055 | 6.281 |
| 17 | 18 |
Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'21.912 | 7.138 |
| 18 | 9 |
Klaus Bachler Patrick Pilet |
GTD PRO | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 1'24.529 | 9.755 |
| 19 | 92 |
Alec Udell Julien Andlauer |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 1'24.539 | 9.765 |
| 20 | 27 |
Roman De Angelis Marco Sorensen |
GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'24.647 | 9.873 |
| 21 | 23 |
Ross Gunn  Alex Riberas |
GTD PRO | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'24.654 | 9.880 |
| 22 | 79 |
Daniel Juncadella Jules Gounon |
GTD PRO | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 1'24.706 | 9.932 |
| 23 | 14 |
Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat |
GTD PRO | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'24.727 | 9.953 |
| 24 | 3 |
Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor |
GTD PRO | Corvette C8.R GTD | 1'24.907 | 10.133 |
| 25 | 80 |
PJ Hyett Seb Priaulx |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 1'25.005 | 10.231 |
| 26 | 12 |
Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'25.085 | 10.311 |
| 27 | 1 |
Bryan Sellers Madison Snow |
GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 1'25.260 | 10.486 |
| 28 | 32 |
Mike Skeen Mikael Grenier |
GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 1'25.433 | 10.659 |
| 29 | 96 |
Patrick Gallagher Robby Foley |
GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 1'25.440 | 10.666 |
| 30 | 57 |
Russell Ward Philip Ellis |
GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 1'25.442 | 10.668 |
| 31 | 91 |
Alan Metni Kay van Berlo |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 1'25.601 | 10.827 |
| 32 | 70 |
Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff |
GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 EVO | 1'25.842 | 11.068 |
| 33 | 78 |
Mikhail Goikhberg  Loris Spinelli |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 | 1'25.927 | 11.153 |
| 34 | 97 |
Bill Auberlen Chandler Hull |
GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 1'26.227 | 11.453 |
| 35 | 94 |
Jarett Andretti Gabby Chaves |
GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'26.289 | 11.515 |
| 36 | 66 |
Sheena Monk Katherine Legge |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'26.363 | 11.589 |
| 37 | 77 |
Alan Brynjolfsson Trent Hindman |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 1'26.365 | 11.591 |
| 38 | 44 |
John Potter Andy Lally |
GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'26.415 | 11.641 |
| View full results | ||||||
