Race Weekend Central

Juan Pablo Montoya Wins Laguna Seca Pole as Acura Sweeps Front Row

Acura Team Penske’s Juan Pablo Montoya will start Sunday’s Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship from the pole position after turning in a lap at 107.175 mph. It is the third consecutive pole for the No. 6 Acura, but the first pole position for the car this season with Montoya driving.

“I thought we had a pretty good car,” Montoya stated during the post-qualifying Zoom conference. “We struggled a lot yesterday with the balance. I really took my time building the tires up. When I felt a good balance, I knew I had two laps. I got a decent lap in, and then I put a really good lap together. I tried to cool them down and push again, but [the tires] never came back. It was pretty good.”

Montoya’s lap was nearly one-sixth of a second faster than Helio Castroneves, giving Acura Team Penske a front-row sweep.  Mazda Motorsports’ Oliver Jarvis, who was fastest on Friday, will start third, followed by Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani.  JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Tristan Vautier was fifth.

In GT Le Mans action, Corvette Racing’s No. 3 remained undefeated for the weekend. Jordan Taylor won the class pole with a lap at 98.877 mph, a new track record for the class. Taylor’s lap was a quarter-second faster than Porsche GT Team’s Laurens VanthoorOliver Gavin starts third in the second Corvette, while BMW Team RLL teammates Bruno Spengler and Jesse Krohn were fourth and fifth.

Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Matt McMurry won the GT Daytona pole in his Acura with a lap at 94.646 mph. This was a mere 14-thousandths of a second quicker than Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley. Scuderia Corsa’s Cooper MacNeil will start third in his Ferrari, while Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian’s Misha Goikhberg qualified fourth. AIM Vasser Sullivan’s Frankie Montecalvo was fifth.

IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP HYUNDAI MONTEREY SPORTS CAR CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING RESULTS

The Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship is scheduled to go green at 4:05 p.m. ET. The race will be streamed live on NBCSports.com. Tape-delayed coverage of the race is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, right after coverage from Martinsville wraps up.

About the author

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.

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