By Tony DiZinno
IMSA Cable Service
Track position is always critical in street racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. And Chevrolet has the best spots to start Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, round four of the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) season.
Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Corvette Racing set the pace in practice with the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R leading the Friday morning session and the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R leading the afternoon session. The team then proceeded to back it up in qualifying with a 1-2 effort to close out Friday’s on-track activities, ensuring that the team has secured successive pole positions in the GTD PRO class.
Antonio García earned the 14th Motul Pole award of his career and the first since the 2023 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac Mobil 1, with a best authorized lap in the GTD PRO classification in the No. 3 Corvette he shares with Alexander Sims .
Garcia recorded a best lap time of 1 minute 9.092 seconds (85.711 mph) on his 13th lap around the nine-turn, 1.645-mile street circuit in downtown Detroit that surrounds the Renaissance Center.
“I think it’s great. That’s the first goal we had, to get out in front as soon as possible, and a 1-2 Corvette really helps,” Garcia said. “Have two yellow ‘Vettes around this building. We just have to keep up.” Let’s hope it’s not like Laguna where we go somewhere else. There will probably also be some yellows and we have to be smart.
“At a place like this, where it’s almost impossible to overtake, it’s really good to have track position. Maybe a lot of people will roll the dice and everything will change. We see these cases where the fastest car doesn’t always win. If everything goes as it should, it will be great to have a 1-2 Corvette around the Ren Cen.”
Tommy Milner worked hard to catch Garcia and finished 0.336 seconds back in the No. 4 Corvette he shares with Nicky Catsburg. Catsburg took the new car’s first IMSA pole three weeks ago at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca; The team again seeks the new car’s first IMSA race victory on Saturday.
First and second in the championship line up in fourth and third, respectively, with the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 ahead of the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Jack Hawksworth qualified the No. 14 Lexus in the car he shares with Ben Barnicoat, who won three consecutive WeatherTech Championship street races in Detroit and Long Beach over three years. That pair enters the race 56 points behind Seb Priaulx, who qualified in the No. 77 Porsche and shares it with Laurin Heinrich.
GTD PRO debutant Conquest Racing qualified fifth with Daniel Serra in his No. 35 Ferrari 296 GT3.
Corvette rival Ford at Motown will see its two Ford Multimatic Motorsports entries take seventh and ninth in the 11-car GTD PRO field.
Tune in to coverage of the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic live starting at 3 pm ET on Saturday on USA Network, Peacock and IMSA Radio.
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