Mazda Prototypes Sweep Front Row At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Subtitle:Late Charge Carries Alon To First PC TOTAL Pole Award

Continuing a weekend of firsts for Mazda Motorsports in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition, Tristan Nunez edged teammate Tom Long to capture the TOTAL Pole Award in qualifying for Sunday’s Continental Tire Monterey Sports Car Grand Prix powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Fast from the green flag in Friday’s opening session, the team placed 1-2 in all three practices prior to sweeping the front row in qualifying. Prior to this weekend, the team had led one WeatherTech Championship practice session, in the most recent event at Long Beach.

Long momentarily eclipsed his teammate to take top honors with three minutes remaining in the back-and-forth, 15-minute qualifying session. But only seconds later, Nunez turned a track-record lap of 1:18.143 (103.103 mph) to lock up his first TOTAL Pole Award in the No. 55 Castrol/ModSpace Mazda co-driven by Monterey resident Jonathan Bomarito.

“We knew what we had coming here – the car loves this track,” said the 20-year-old Nunez. “We pushed our hearts out in these cars. There’s no better place than Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for our first pole, and I’m extremely honored to be able to do that. All that hard work by the team is finally paying off and we have a pretty competitive package now. It’s going to show now and for the rest of the season.”

Long settled for second, running 1:18.379 (102.793 mph) in the No. 70 Castrol/ModSpace Mazda co-driven by Joel Miller.

Dane Cameron qualified third in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP co-driven by Eric Curran, 1:19.072 (101.892 mph). He edged out Ricky Taylor, who ran 1:19.119 (101.831 mph) in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP co-driven by his brother Jordan.

Alon Captures First Career Pole For PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports

Robert Alon saved his best for last in Prototype Challenge (PC) qualifying, running two quick laps to capture his first career TOTAL Pole Award in the No. 52 Professional Security Consultants/Westfield ORECA FLM09.

Alon led the session with a lap of 1:21.146 (99.288 mph), giving PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports its first pole since co-driver Tom Kimber-Smith led qualifying for the 2015 season finale at Road Atlanta.

“They told me on the radio that it was very, very tight,” Alon said. “I just kept my head down and kept pushing. I used every inch of the track. Then my final lap was what did it. I think being on the pole is going to be very important in Sunday’s race.”

James French led into the closing minutes of the 15-minute session before being knocked off by Alon. French settled for second with a lap of 1:21.285 (99.118 mph) in a bid for his fourth career pole and first of the season in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry co-driven by Kyle Marcelli.

NOTEBOOK

·      Tristan Nunez’s last sports car pole came in 2013 at Mazda Raceway, running in the GRAND-AM GX class in a SpeedSource Mazda 6. The last pole for a Mazda-powered Prototype was in 2013 for Dyson Racing in ALMS competition at VIRginia International Raceway.

·      Mazda Motorsports made it a 1-2 sweep of the weekend’s practice sessions when Joel Miller was fastest in Saturday morning’s 45-minute final practice. He ran a lap of 1:18.478 (102.663 mph) in the No. 70 Mazda Prototype, only 0.0223 ahead of the No. 55 Mazda of Tristan Nunez and Jonathan Bomarito. Mazdas also placed 1-2 in both of Friday’s one-hour practices.

·      Alex Popow qualified third in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport ORECA co-driven by Renger van der Zande: “It was a very disappointing qualifying run,” Popow said. “We expected to win pole, but I couldn’t get a good lap together. But I think we’ll have a good car for the race tomorrow.”

·      PC points leader Misha Goikhberg was sixth fastest, with a best lap of 1:22.863 in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Hi-Tide Boat Lifts/Red Line Oil ORECA co-driven by Stephen Simpson.

·      The Prototype (P) competitors will join the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class in a two-hour race on the challenging 2.238-mile circuit at 11:15 a.m. PT  (live, FS1, 2 p.m. ET). The Prototype Challenge (PC) and GT Daytona (GTD) competitors will then take the green flag at 4:45 p.m. PT (live, FS2, 6:30 p.m. ET).

·      Sunday’s on-track activities begin at 8 a.m. PT with a 15-minute warm-up for the Prototype and GTLM competitors. The PC/GTD warm-up will be at 1:50 p.m.