On the series’ debut on the tight and twisty 1.654-mile, nine-turn temporary street circuit in downtown Detroit, Tandy beat Penske stable-mate Dane Cameron and Cadillac’s Sebastien Bourdais to the fastest time in qualifying for GTP, while Antonio Garcia scored GTD Pro pole position as Corvette swept the field on home turf.
There was an immediate strategy play, as both of Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s pitted for fresh Michelins, which would mean some extra warm-up lap pain in the quickfire 15-minute session but would produce more grip later.
Pipo Derani set the benchmark in the #31 Action Express-run Cadillac V-Series.R at 1m06.861s before Filipe Albuquerque’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 beat that with 1m06.539s.
With the new tires up to temperature, Cameron snatched P1 in the #7 Penske Porsche by lapping in 1m05.770s, over three tenths clear of Derani.
With five minutes remaining, Albuquerque got within 0.066s of Cameron in P2 with 1m05.836s, with Jordan Taylor getting into the top three with the #40 Acura.
Tandy rose to third in the #6 Porsche, 0.079s off the pace, as the clock ticked towards the end of the session.
Bourdais (Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac) hit the top spot with three minutes to go at 1m05.762s, with Albuquerque just 0.005s behind. But Tandy was the man to watch, grabbing P1 with 2m30s remaining with 1m05.390s and Cameron making it a PPM 1-2 – despite both cars clipping the walls on their fast laps.
“It’s a tiny, narrow track and these are big cars,” said Tandy. “To find the limit, you have to go over it. I touched the wall twice in one lap, and that should’ve been a faster one.”
Derani then crashed at Turn 5, hitting the wall with first the rear and then the front of his Caddy, bringing out the red flag and ending the session.
Bourdais will start behind the Porsches in third, ahead of the Acuras of Albuquerque and Taylor. The BMWs, which looked strong in practice, will start sixth and eighth. Philipp Eng, who topped FP2, was six tenths off the pace, with Nick Yelloly over a second off.
Bent Viscaal will start seventh in the Proton Porsche 963, with Tijmen van der Helm’s JDC-Miller version in ninth. Derani will bring up the rear of the class, as his fastest two times were deleted.
#3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims
Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images
Garcia leads Corvette 1-2 in GTD Pro
In GTD Pro, under the shadows of General Motors’ giant Renaissance Center towers that dominate the skyline here, the pressure was on Chevrolet’s Corvette squad to perform.
Tommy Milner rocketed his #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R around to 1m09.949s to set the benchmark, with team-mate Antonio Garcia just 0.019s behind in the #3 sister car.
Seb Priaulx gatecrashed their party in AO Racing’s #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R, his 1m09.964s beating Garcia by 0.004s with five minutes of qualifying to go.
Priaulx then briefly snatched P1 with 1m09.794s until Garcia denied him moments later on a 1m09.695s, but Milner beat them both with 1m09.663s in a pulsating battle for pole.
Garcia switched the ’Vette order by producing 1m09.458s and then 1m09.227s. On his final lap, he unleashed a mighty 1m09.092s to seal the deal.
Milner trimmed his time down to 1m09.428s, but that was 0.336s shy of pole – but he came perilously close to shunting at Turn 1.
Jack Hawksworth was best of the rest in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F, his 1m09.626s over half a second off the pace of Garcia.
Priaulx will start fourth, ahead of Factory Ferrari racer Daniel Serra, who produced 1m09.779s on Conquest Racing’s debut with its 296 in the all-pro class.