PWC: Cadillac's O'Connell on Monterey GT pole

Johnny O'Connell captured pole position for Sunday's Pirelli World Challenge GT season finale and will have championship contender Patrick Long starting next to him on the front row.

O'Connell's Cadillac No. 3 ATS-V.R (1m23.960s) barely edged Long's No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (-0 .024s) and Cadillac teammate Michael Cooper who was third in the No. 8 ATS-V.R (-0.058s) in the wickedly tight run for the top starting position. The pole was O'Connell's first of 2016 and the 18th of his illustrious PWC career.

"It was a total team effort," O'Connell said. "In the first open practice on Thursday morning, 10-minutes into the session I got hit exiting the Corkscrew. The Cadillac Racing crew had to build a lot of the racecar. They actually got me back out later in the day. This is my first pole of the year, so that keeps my streak going of getting one in every PWC season. Needless to say I was motivated. We are doing what we need to do – get the points for the pole and remain in a fight for this championship."

"It was fun," Long said. "Our team's main priority was to come here and get a racecar to be at the front of the field. So we have been backing it session after session. We shut it down early in qualifying and made one last run to see if we could win the pole and steal the added seven points. In a normal scenario, we wouldn't do that. I gave it one last try and the car wriggled on me in Turn Six and I had to get out of the throttle. So I said, 'Let's get this thing in the show.'

"Johnny is the epitome of never give up. You can never count him out. It's great to be on the front row with him. And we're trying to win the first championship in four years since we went head-to-head in 2011 (and Long won the title.)"

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Qualifying's outcome could have ramifications in the championship with points leader Alvaro Parente down in sixth with the No. 9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3. The Portuguese ace, who holds a slim 1554-1545 advantage over Long, will have teammate Austin Cindric (P4) and Bob Stallings Racing/GAINSCO McLaren driver Jon Fogarty (P4) to deal with before the Cadillacs and Long's Porsche come into view.

In GTA, newly crowned champion Martin Fuentes claimed his 10th pole of the season in his No. 07 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 (1m24.814s) and in GT Cup, Corey Fergus will start first in his Motorsports Promotions No. 00 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car (1m27.874s).

"We had a great couple of practice days here," Fuentes said. "The car felt amazing and we made a couple of changes on Friday for today's qualifying. And it seemed like it worked. The car was stable and we were able to get into the 24s (1:24 lap).

"I'm so happy to close out this season with a pole. Scuderia Corsa did a great job as usual and it's fun to start in P1 for the final race. People were asking me if I was going to cruise here since I won the championship at Sonoma. But no, I want to win and take the 10th victory of the season for our team. I want to finish off the best season of my life with a win."

"We have been trying for the pole the whole year now. It has taken a little longer than we wanted," Fergus said. "Things have started to click this weekend now. We made an engine change yesterday and we missed one of the practice sessions. But we felt confident coming into qualifying. It was a bonus to win the pole and set the track record. Better late than never.

"It's funny but I feel like Laguna Seca is more of a home track for us than even Mid-Ohio. We clinched the TC championship here last year and we would like to take our first GT Cup win here, too."

UP NEXT: Race, 1:05 p.m. PT Sunday