Deletraz puts Cadillac up front with IMSA pole at Laguna Seca

Louis Delètraz and the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R have been the fastest combination all weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and after winning the pole position for tomorrow’s Monterey SportsCar Championship, they’ll lead an all-Cadillac front row in GTP.

Delètraz, the fastest driver in both practices, and co-driver Jordan Taylor will start up front after the Swiss driver’s excellent qualifying run. He first took provisional pole with a 1m13.592s, then found two more quick laps.

He sealed pole position with a 1m13.221s to give Wayne Taylor Racing its first pole since reuniting with Cadillac and GM.

Jack Aitken will start on the front row for the third straight race, qualifying second in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R with a 1m13.501s.

Acura Meyer Shank Racing qualified third and fifth, with the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 of Nick Yelloly in third, and the No. 60 of Tom Blomqvist in fifth. Dries Vanthoor snuck in between them, qualifying fourth in the No. 24 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8. And Ross Gunn was an impressive sixth in the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie.

Delètraz’s teammate Filipe Albuquerque was seventh in the No. 10 WTR Cadillac, followed by the two Apple-liveried Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s of Kévin Estre and Julien Andlauer, the No. 25 WRT BMW of Philipp Eng, and the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche of Tijmen van der Helm.

With GTD Pro back in action for the first time since Sebring, Jack Hawksworth stuck the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 on the pole for the second straight event.

There was drama during the 15 minute GTD Pro time trial: Neil Verhagen had set a monster lap of 1m21.307s early on, but he was deemed to have exceeded track limits. Paul Miller Racing put another set of tires on the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO and sent Verhagen out for another run.

Hawksworth, meanwhile, jumped to the top spot, and eventually put the pole out of reach with a 1m12.228s. Verhagen, on his second run, left it late, qualifying second with a 1m21.441s.

Christopher Mies made the most of the No. 65 Ford Racing Mustang GT3’s new Evo package, qualifying third, ahead of Harry King in the No. 77 AO Racing ‘Sketchy’ Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Then Antonio García qualified fifth in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R, and Sandy Mitchell put the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 within half a second of pole in sixth.

GTD featured a showcase of two second-generation drivers with F1 lineage, but the pole went to Lorenzo Patrese and the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari.

Patrese, the son of former Formula 1 iron man Riccardo, is standing in for regular driver Manny Franco as Conquest Racing’s "designated Silver." He was the class of the field in Qualifying, a step ahead of championship leader Eduardo Barrichello in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 as they each crossed the finish line.

The No. 34 Ferrari got the pole with a time of 1m21.441s, giving Eric Bachelart’s team its first IMSA pole since 2012, but it wasn’t by much; a late improvement from the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Danny Formal put the Costa Rican driver within 0.022s of spoiling the run for Patrese.

Barrichello will start third in the No. 27 Aston Martin ahead of Russell Ward in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, with Benjamin Pedersen completing the top five in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus.

The 2026 StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca starts tomorrow at 1:10 PM PT (local time).

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