Deletraz Leads Cadillac Front Row Lockout at Laguna

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Louis Deletraz claimed a front row lockout for Cadillac in qualifying for Sunday’s StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The Wayne Taylor Racing driver took his No. 40 Cadillac V-Series.R to a 1:13.221 lap time to edge out the No. 31 Action Express Racing entry of Jack Aitken by 0.280 seconds.

It marked WTR’s first GTP pole since Road America 2024 when it ran Acura ARX-06 machinery.

Deletraz will share the No. 40 Acura with Jordan Taylor in tomorrow’s two-hour and 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round.

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach-winning No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Nick Yelloly qualified third, ahead of Dries Vanthoor in the quickest of the Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s in fourth.

Tom Blomqvist completed the top-five in the No. 60 Acura, with Ross Gunn qualifying sixth in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie.

All three Porsche 963s struggled in qualifying, with Kevin Estre the quickest in eighth, ahead of teammate Julien Andlauer in ninth and Tijmen van der Helm last in class in the 2025-spec JDC-Miller Motorsports entry.

Philipp Eng qualified tenth in the No. 25 WRT BMW, meanwhile.

Hawksworth, Patrese Claim GT Poles

Jack Hawksworth claimed the class pole in GTD Pro, fending off challenges from Neil Verhagen and Christopher Mies with the oldest GT3 car in the field.

Hawksworth took his No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 to a fast lap of 1:21.228, outpacing the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Verhagen by more than two-tenths.

Mies put the No. 65 Multimatic Motorsports-run Ford Mustang GT3 EVO third quickest in class, ahead of Harry King and Antonio Garcia, who completed the top-five in class for AO Racing and Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, respectively.

GTD pole honors, meanwhile, went to Lorenzo Patrese in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, who edged out the No. 45 WTR Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Danny Formal by just 0.022 seconds.

It marked Patrese’s second career pole after taking top qualifying honors in GTD at last year’s Motul Petit Le Mans.

Patrese, subbing for Manny Franco, and Formal, set the second and third quickest times in the production-based ranks, respectively, although all GTD cars will be re-ordered behind the GTD Pro machines per WeatherTech Championship regulations.

The No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of class points leader Eduardo Barrichello will start third in class.

The StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship gets underway Sunday at 1:10 p.m. PST (4:10 p.m. EST) with live coverage on Peacock, NBCSN and IMSA’s YouTube channel for international viewers.

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