Derani Scores Detroit Pole for ESM

Pipo Derani turned in a late flyer in the waning moments of qualifying to snatch the pole for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Detroit’s Belle Isle circuit.

Derani’s best lap in the No. 22 Nissan Onroak DPi was 0.719 seconds faster than Juan Pablo Montoya in the second-place No. 6 Acura ARX-05 for Acura Team Penske and came in a wild final few minutes of qualifying.

Robert Alon’s accident in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson with under six minutes remaining in the session chewed up three minutes and left teams scrambling to better their times in the final frantic minutes.

Helio Castroneves will start third in the No. 7 Acura DPi, while Joao Barbosa led the Cadillac contingent in the No. 5 Cadillac DPi-V.R for Action Express Racing.

Alon’s stablemate Misha Goikhberg rounded out the top five in impressive fashion, posting the best lap of the global-LMP2 machinery in the No. 99 Oreca.

Paul Miller Racing on GT Daytona Pole

GT Daytona points leaders Paul Miller Racing will lead the class to the green flag after a track record-setting qualifying run by Bryan Sellers, his second career pole at the circuit.

Sellers turned in the only sub 1:29 lap of the weekend so far in his No. 48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3, a lap of 1:28.942 that was nearly a half-second faster than Katherine Legge who clocked in the second-fastest time.

Legge, who enters the weekend second in GTD points and is the defending class winner in Detroit, was 0.448 seconds off Sellers’ pace in the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3.

Her teammate Justin Marks was third in the No. 93 MSR Acura GT3, followed by the 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 duo of Dominik Baumann and David Heinemeier Hansson who completed the top-five in class.

The session started late due to an accident in Trans-Am qualifying that required a lengthy cleanup.

A 20-minute warmup session is scheduled for 8 a.m. ET Saturday with the 100-minute Chevrolet Sports Car Classic set to commence at 12:40 p.m. ET.

RESULTS: Qualifying