Haase, Land Quickest in Pre-Qualifying

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Audi Sport Team Land’s Christopher Haase set the pace in Pre-Qualifying on Friday afternoon ahead of the California 8 Hours.

The German posted a 1:24.347 early in the 90-minute session at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to lead an Audi 1-2 in the final practice before qualifying gets underway.

Audi Sport Team WRT was classified second with its No. 19 R8 LMS GT3, ahead of the K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3.

Haase’s time was 0.711 seconds clear, with only the WRT and K-PAX cars within one second of the Land Audi in a surprisingly uncompetitive session.

Wright Motorsports was classified fourth after topping Free Practice in the morning, while Bentley Team M-Sport completed the top five with its No. 8 second-gen Continental GT3.

SunEnergy1 Racing was on top in the GT3 Pro-Am class with its No. 175 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in sixth overall while Strakka Racing’s Pro-Am car was second in class.

Spencer Pumpelly, Derek DeBoer and Sean Gibbons’ TRG Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR topped the GT4 field, meanwhile.

The session was red-flagged in the closing stages to retrieve the No. 22 Automatic Racing Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 of Charles Espenlaub.

Saturday’s on-track action will kick off with qualifying at 10:35 a.m. local time ahead of the Pole Shootout at 2:40 p.m.

RESULTS: Pre-Qualifying

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.