Magnussen Scores First IMSA Pole in Detroit

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Kevin Magnussen has scored his first career IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole in qualifying for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Detroit’s Belle Isle.

The Dane, in only his fourth sports car race, reeled off a 1:20.031 lap in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R to edge out the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P of Harry Tincknell by 0.021 seconds.

The 15-minute session ended early following an accident by Tristan Vautier in the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac with five minutes to go. 

Vautier lost control of his car before making side contact with the barriers. He attempted to bring the car back to the pits but stopped on track.

As a result, the Frenchman lost his quickest qualifying lap and will start fifth in the six-car DPi field.

Pipo Derani qualified third in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac followed by the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 of Ricky Taylor in fourth. 

The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura DPi of Olivier Pla again brought up the rear, nearly 1.5 seconds slower than pole-sitter Magnussen.

Heistand on Pole; Farnbacher Quickest in GTD

Richard Heistand scored pole in GT Daytona, with Mario Farnbacher claiming maximum qualifying points in the two-stage format.

Heistand took his No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo to a quick lap of 1:30.529, outpacing the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo, who will line up second in class.

Roman De Angelis will start third in the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, meanwhile.

Q2 saw Farnbacher storm to a 1:29.871 lap time in his No. 76 Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo, which was 0.123 seconds quicker than Ross Gunn’s Heart of Racing Aston in second.

Montecalvo’s co-driver Townsend Bell, who is subbing for the COVID-19 positive Zach Veach, set the third quickest time in the session.

The sister No. 14 Lexus did not set a time in Q2 after it sustained right-rear suspension damage due to Aaron Telitz brushing the wall. It came after he set the fifth quickest time in Q1.

The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, which missed Practice 2 due to an engine change, will start sixth after Madison Snow’s qualifying effort.

In GT Le Mans, Nick Tandy outpaced Jordan Taylor for class pole in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

Tandy’s 1:27.283 lap time was 0.323 seconds faster than Taylor in the two-car class this weekend that does not count towards season-long points.

The Chevrolet Sports Car Classic gets underway Saturday at 5 p.m. ET with live coverage on NBCSN.

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