GTD PRO and GTD Qualifying at TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Features Pair of First-Time Pole Winners

Qualifying for the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) and GTD PRO classes at the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship produced a pair of first time Motul Pole Award winners as Giacamo Altoè grabbed the GTD PRO top spot in DragonSpeed’s No. 81 Ferrari 296 GT3 just a few minutes after Kenton Koch topped the GTD timesheets in the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3.

After lapping at 1:20.731 with about four minutes left in the session, Altoè “rested” his Michelin tires for a spell before hanging it all out in his bid for the pole. Altoè then laid down a blistering lap of 1:20.608 with less than a minute remaining in the GTD PRO session with Dan Harper falling just .036 seconds short of that mark in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO at the checkered flag. 

“I cooled off the tires for one more time,” Altoè said. “I was really at the limit . . . 100 percent at the limit. It was now or never. I knew I had to try everything.

"I feel so good with the lap. I said on the radio it was the lap of my life because I was risking 100 percent for sure. But to get it on the very last lap of qualifying it feels great for the team, for the work they've been doing. I knew it was a good lap, but I never know on the qualy, so I just focused on myself and we got pole."

Not only is this Altoè’s first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole position, it comes in his WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca debut.

“The pole means a lot to me,” he said. “It’s my first in IMSA, a championship I really love and have a lot of respect for all the drivers here. This is my first time in Laguna Seca. I didn’t know what to expect, when to push. On my first lap I made a mistake and went off the track, but to take the pole on the last lap was really cool for myself and for the team.”

Koch Sets New GTD Track Record on Way to First Pole

After besting Alec Udell’s No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R by 0.009 seconds, Koch was similarly elated to join the ranks of IMSA Motul Pole winners, not leastwise because he accomplished the feat with a Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 decked-out in Motul colors. The 1:20.810 lap was also fast enough to set a new GTD track record, besting Danny Formal’s record-setting lap last year by 0.056 seconds.

“It (first pole) feels good, it feels awesome,” Koch said. “It’s also kind of cool to be on brand here – we have the Motul car for the Motul Pole Award. So, I can't be happier with the guys and with the Korthoff Competition Motors.”

The pole position was particularly rewarding to Koch and the Korthoff team in the wake of a relatively disappointing outing in last month’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which saw the No. 32 Mercedes-AMG post a sixth-place finish after qualifying 10th fastest.

“It’s a big improvement from Long Beach," Koch said. “Just some of the things that go into optimizing the torque sensors and get the most power from the car that we're allowed. And then the balance of the car was really nice to drive.”

With Alexander Sims turning a 1:20.673 in the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R, the top three qualifiers in GTD PRO are blanketed by .065 seconds. And with Onofrio Triarsi’s Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 posting a best lap of 1:21.010, the top three in GTD are covered by .200 seconds.

Casper Stevenson originally qualified third in GTD aboard the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, but post-race technical inspection revealed that the car’s ground clearance was lower than the minimum allowed, so the car will be moved to the rear of the starting grid for Sunday’s race.

Results are HERE