Van der Zande posted a fast lap of 1 minute, 36.083 seconds (133.378 mph) in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi Thursday to snag the pole in his first qualifying session with the team.
Van der Zande replaces Ricky Taylor who left to join the new Acura Team Penske lineup. Last year Ricky and his brother Jordan co-drove the No. 10 to the Rolex 24 victory with Jeff Gordon and Max Angelelli and went on to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the Prototype class in dominating fashion.
For the Rolex 24 this year, van der Zande and Jordan Taylor are joined by former Indianapolis 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay.
“I am super thrilled to be in the Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R,” said van der Zande. “I didn’t expect to get the pole. When the team told me on the radio I got pole, I was excited. On the final lap, I overshot turn five and I floored it and the Cadillac stuck. Every lap I was taking time out and pushing. At some of the points, it is seven or eight meters later at the braking markers. The wind was pushing me up toward the wall. I had some traffic in the session. I actually let Helio pass. I was all in on the last lap and it turned out to be fast. It is very, very tight – the most competitive field in a long time. The Konica Minolta Cadillac team has high expectations. They know how to win a championship.”
At the end of the 15-minute qualifying session, van der Zande was at the front – barely. Qualifying second, only .007 of a second behind, was three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves in one of two Roger Penske-owned Acura DPis.
Qualifying third was Felipe Albuquerque in the Cadillac DPi of Mustang Sampling Racing. The best lap for van der Zande was his ninth (and last) around the 3.56-mile road course, allowing him to edge Castroneves for the pole.
Former Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso qualified 13th in the No. 23 Ligier LMP2 Prototype of United Autosports. Alonso is co-driving with Lando Norris and Phil Hanson.
“I think it was a good session for us,” Alonso said. “It was nice to have some laps, finally, with no traffic. When we are in the [all class] practice there is a lot of traffic and a lot going on. In the Prototype qualifying you can put some laps together.”
Jan Magnussen took the pole in the GT Le Mans class in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Corvette Racing with a fast lap of 1 minute, 42.779 seconds.
“To be honest. I’m a little bit surprised that we found that kind of speed for qualifying, but a good lap paired with a massive tow from my teammate,” said Magnussen, who is co-driving with Mike Rockenfeller and Antonio Garcia. “Fantastic lap with fantastic help from Olly (Oliver Gavin). It helped me a lot. Being that close up front that for sure mattered. But the race is a different matter. This feels super great right now, but it comes down to that this really doesn’t matter at all. But it is to show everybody that the car is fast and we are on to something that worked.”
In the GT Daytona class, the pole went to Daniel Serra and the No. 51 Ferrari 488 GT3 with a fast lap of one minute, 46.049 seconds. Serra will be joined in the race by co-drivers Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana.
“The car was really, really good,” Serra said. “This morning I did just a few laps and the balance was just not there. Our engineer did a few changes and the car came back really good. I’m really happy. I had a little bit of a tow on that last lap, so yeah, I’m really happy.”
Source : speedsport.com
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