03/05/2026

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing secures pole for Laguna Seca IMSA race

Louis Deletraz delivered a breakthrough performance to put Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing on pole at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The 29-year-old Swiss driver wheeled the #40 Cadillac V-Series.R to a flying lap of 1m13.221s around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile natural terrain road course to take the top spot. It marks the first pole for Wayne Taylor Racing since 2024 (Road America).

“That’s awesome,” Deletraz said. “I’m so happy. We’ve been working really hard. All the boys and girls have been really pushing for performance and it’s great to reward them with a pole position.”

The WTR Cadillac will have company on the front row as Jack Aitken put the the #31 Whelen Cadillac in second, 0.280s behind.

GTP

The 15-minute session saw Deletraz put down his best lap with just under five minutes to go, and remained untouched throughout.

Behind Deletraz and Aitken was Nick Yelloloy, who had the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 in third with a late quick lap of 1m13.696s. Dries Vanthoor handed the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 a fourth-place start for BMW M Team WRT, 0.514s behind.

Tom Blomqvist (Acura Meyer Shank Racing) was fifth, with Ross Gunn (Aston Martin THOR Team) in sixth.

GTD Pro

Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth delivered a strong run of 1m21.228s to put the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 on pole. It’s the Briton’s 16th career pole, but first at Laguna Seca. He now has taken pole at nine different race tracks.

Neil Verhagen twice put up a strong laps but both were disallowed due to exceeding track limits, but was able to still mount a good lap of 1m21.485 to put Paul Miller Racing’s #1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO in second.

Ford Racing’s Christopher Mies ended up third in the #65 Ford Mustang GT3, with AO Racing’s Harry King fourth in the #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). Antonio Garcia was fifth in the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports.

GTD

Lorenzo Patrese put the #34 Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO for Conquest Racing on pole in GTD with a quick lap of 1m21.441s. It marks the first pole for Conquest Racing in 14 years, and stands as Patrese’s second career pole.

Danny Formal’s #45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 (Wayne Taylor Racing) was just 0.022s short of Patrese’s pole pace, which came with a few minutes left in the 15-minute session. Formal attempted to go quicker but ran out of fuel with a few corners left on the following lap and was forced to dive back to pit lane.

Heart of Racing Team’s #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Dude Barrichello, the current class points leader, ended up third at 0.266s behind.

Russell Ward (Winward Racing) was fourth, while Benjamin Pedersen, who co-drove the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 with Aaron Telitz to victory in the last round at Long Beach, ended up fifth.