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Intercontinental GT Challenge

Farnbacher Puts Acura on California 8H Pole

Mario Farnbacher puts Honda Team Motul on pole in IGTC debut…

Photo: Dirk Bogaerts/SRO

Marino Farnbacher has stormed to the pole for Saturday’s California 8 Hours, in a record-breaking lap at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The German driver in the No. 30 Honda Team Motul Acura NSX GT3 Evo reeled off a 1:23.156 lap in the closing stages of the Pole Shootout to go to the top of the time charts, where he remained there in a heated Pole Shootout session.

It marked Acura’s first Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli pole in the manufacturer’s series debut this weekend.

Farnbacher will share driving duties of the JAS Motorsport-run Acura with Renger van der Zande and Bertrand Baguette.

The No. 35 KCMG Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Al Buncombe will start second, ahead of Dries Vanthoor, in the best of the Audi R8 LMS Evos, in third.

Nick Foster qualified the No. 27 HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 in fourth, with Matt Campbell completing the top-five in the No. 912 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Six different GT3 manufacturers were in the top-six, with the No. 34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 leading the BMW Team Schnitzer entry.

Mathieu Jaminet, who posted the quickest single lap in qualifying, recorded the eighth best time in the Pole Shootout, followed by Alexandre Imperatori in ninth.

Defending Blancpain GT Series champion Raffaele Marciello completed the top-ten, after an off-course excursion by the Italian during his run.

The California 8 Hours gets underway on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. PST, with live coverage on CBS Sports Network and the series’ official Web site.

RESULTS: Pole Shootout

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

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