Taylor Storms to Laguna Seca Pole in New Track Record

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Jordan Taylor has stormed to pole for Sunday’s America’s Tire 250, in a record-setting qualifying run for Wayne Taylor Racing and Cadillac at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Taylor took his No. 10 Cadillac DPi-V.R to a quick lap of 1:16.181, outpacing the pair of Team Penske Acura ARX-05s for the team’s second pole of the year.

His lap shattered brother Ricky Taylor’s previous track qualifying record, set last year, by more than six-tenths.

The defending Prototype champion and co-driver Renger van der Zande look to end WTR’s year-plus winless streak in tomorrow’s penultimate IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race of the season.

Dane Cameron qualified second in the No. 6 Acura DPi, followed by teammate Helio Castroneves in third.

The No. 22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi of Pipo Derani and Colin Braun, in the No. 54 CORE autosport Oreca 07 Gibson, completed the top-five overall.

Braun’s 1:16.774 lap time was nearly six-tenths off Taylor’s pole-winning lap, following a pre-event Balance of Performance adjustment handed to LMP2 machinery.

Jonathan Bomarito was the quickest Mazda RT24-P in sixth, followed by the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca of Robert Alon and the sister Mazda of Oliver Jarvis in eighth.

Championship leader Eric Curran will roll off from ninth on the grid, with the debuting No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Sebastian Saavedra completing the top-ten overall and in Prototype.

The America’s Tire 250 gets underway Sunday at 2:05 p.m. PDT (5:05 p.m. EDT).

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