#31: Whelen Engineering Racing, Cadillac DPi, GTP: Pipo Derani celebrates winning the Motul Pole Award Photo: Michael L. Levitt
It’s been a busy news week for the IMSA paddock going into what may be the final Super Sebring weekend, but when the visor goes down, so does the noise. An early morning qualifying session for IMSA sets the field for the second round of the 2023 IMSA season and for many teams there is nothing to lose, and everything to gain over one lap.
The day kicked off bright and early with GT Qualifying, and they wasted no time bringing the lap time down right from the get-go. The battle for GTD Pro pole was clear early, Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette factory effort was going to have to run hard to fend off Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus.
In GTD the field was a little more open between the teams, but all through the GT ranks it was clear that the BoP issues in Daytona were more or less resolved as each manufacturer was in the mix for pole.
The first flyers saw the #3 right on the precipice of breaking sub 2 minutes around the iconic circuit with a 2:00.09. Hawksworth was the first to break the 2-minute barrier, however, running a 1:59.82 shortly after. Garcia responded in turn by putting up a 1:57.73 but Hawskwprth was not far and bested the Spaniard with a 1:59.58.
At the end of the day, Garcia set the fastest lap of the weekend in the GT ranks with a 1:59.31 right before the red flag came out. A greedy turn-one for the #9 Pfaff Motorsport Porsche sent last year’s GTD Pro champions in the tire barrier with force and brought out a session-ending red flag. Klaus Bachler was behind the sticks at the time and walked away uninjured but gives his mechanics a busy day of work to get the machine ready for tomorrow.
The fight at GTD was a little less back and forth, with a handful of drivers in the mix. One of the main players was the #32 Team Korthoff Mercades which stood its ground in the top end of the timing sheets for the majority of the session and ended with a fourth-place start for tomorrow’s race.
But on top when the red flag flew was Kyle Marcelli and the #93 Racers Edge Acura team. With a final flying lap of 1:59.71, the Acura ended the Mercedes dominance started in Daytona and will lead the GTD field to green for the 12 hours of Sebring.
Next to bat were the prototypes, with LMP3 and LMP2 sharing the track for the second session of the day. Ben Keating came in as a perennial favorite for LMP2 pole in his #52 PR1 Mathesein machine, after his fantastic run in WEC LMGTE qualifying yesterday. In LMP3 the field was much more open and after a reliability nightmare for a majority of the grid in Daytona, there were a lot of hungry drivers under the orange LMP3 badge.
Eventual pole sitters, Keating in the #51 and Glenn van Berlo in the #36 Andretti Autosport machine set their place at the top of the towers early in the session and really didn’t give them up the whole time.
Keating fended off runs from long-time friend and competitor Steven Thomas in the #11 TDS Racing near the end of the session and took the top spot from François Herieu midway through the session. Keating finished the day with a top time of 1:51.78 and will lead LMP2 to green on Saturday.
Van Berlo took the top spot incredibly early and held it firm the whole session. He didn’t face a ton of challenge from the rest of the field and ended the day with a 1:55.21 and a pole position for Andretti Autosport.
Closing out the day was the GTP class and in keeping with the traditions of 2023, it ended prematurely with a Porsche in the wall. The Acuras got the day started with Ricky Taylor setting an early flyer of 1:46.100 and his sister car was not far behind with the #60 Meyer Shank machine running a 1:46.906.
As the GTP machines slowly made their way out of the pits to the track, the contenders started to shape up and all eyes turned to Pipo Derani and the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac as the Brazilian sportscar mainstay started chipping away at the fastest lap and climbing his way to the top.
Derani saw his way to P2 with a 1:46.389, and he began knocking on Taylor’s door as he geared up for a few more flyers with plenty of time left in the session. The Porsche #6 began to show some pace as well, running P3 near the sharp end of the session with a 1:46.426.
Derani finally put a top lap together with five minutes to go running a 1:45.836 and securing pole. In the factory Cadillac, Sebastian Bourdais made the jump from last to second with a 1:45.923 flyer right as the red flag flew, ending the session.
Matt Campbell in the #7 Porsche took a greedy turn-one and found himself in the tires, just like his alma mater, Pfaff Motorsport, did earlier in the day. This incident ended the session and confirmed Derani on pole, with Bourdais second and Taylor third.
Derani will lead the field to green tomorrow and looks to secure a fourth win around Sebring in the 2023 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.
Keyword: Derani puts #31 Cadillac on pole for 12 Hours of Sebring