Montoya Leads Acura Penske Front Row Sweep in Detroit

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Juan Pablo Montoya has claimed pole for Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle, in a front row sweep for Acura Team Penske.

The Colombian laid down a 1:19.373 lap in the No. 6 Acura ARX-05 in a frantic qualifying session for the fifth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship that saw multiple late improvements.

Montoya’s time, eclipsing the previous track qualifying record by nearly three seconds, edged out teammate Helio Castroneves by 0.207 seconds for the front row lockout in GM’s backyard.

Jonathan Bomarito made a last-lap improvement to place the Team Joest-entered Mazda RT24-P third on the grid after bouncing back from engine-related issues earlier in the day.

It marked Montoya’s second career WeatherTech Championship pole as he and co-driver Dane Cameron seek back-to-back wins on Saturday.

Pipo Derani, who topped the time charts in both practice sessions and led for the majority of qualifying, was forced to settle for fourth in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, with teammate Joao Barbosa completing the top-five.

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi of Renger van der Zande was sixth, ahead of Tristan Nunez in seventh.

Foley Takes Pole in Duel With Robichon

Robby Foley claimed his first career pole following a fierce duel with Zach Robichon for the top spot in GT Daytona.

Foley took his No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 to a quick lap of 1:29.704, edging out Robichon’s Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R by just 0.031 seconds.

He will share the wheel with BMW veteran Bill Auberlen tomorrow.

The top-five in GTD were separated by less than eight-tenths of a second, with the pair of Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evos of Christina Nielsen and Trent Hindman qualifying third and fourth, respectively.

Mid-Ohio pole-sitter and class winner Richard Heistand will start fifth in the WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship-leading No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle gets underway Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET, with live coverage on NBCSN.

RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John