Dutch drivers Peter Kox (#43 RealTime Racing Acura) and Jeroen Bleekemolen (#54 Black Swan Racing Porsche) topped the timing sheets after the 45-minute qualifying session for the Mazda Raceway California 8 Hours. The top-15 goes through to the Pole Shootout later this afternoon.
Blue skies over the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the qualifying session for the Mazda Raceway California 8 Hours, with all 19 cars immediately leaving pitlane to get the most of the 45 minutes of track action.
21-year-old Alec Udell was the first driver to set a benchmark time, at the wheel of the #17 GMG Racing Porsche. His lap time was quickly improved upon by Porsche-colleague Jorg Bergmeister, driving the #58 Porsche Motorsport North America by Wright Motorsport 911. The German topped the timing sheets for the biggest part of the session, but in the closing minutes both Kox and Bleekemolen jumped to the front. The latter also set the fastest time in the Pro-Am category.
Both MARC Cars in the invitational class made it into the top-15 for the Pole Shootout, together with three GT4 Aston Martins: the #07 TRG, #99 Automatic Racing and #3 TRG machines. The latter hit the tyre barriers some minutes from the end, causing an earlier than expected chequered flag.
The 15-minute Pole Shootout starts at 13.40 local time and will be streamed live on the official website and Facebook-page of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.