In the 20-minute GTP-only session around the 1.968-mile Californian street course, Albuquerque lapped in 1m09.909s in his Acura ARX-06.
Marco Sorensen claimed the GTD class pole for Aston Martin, just beating Jack Hawksworth, who led the GTD Pro category in his Lexus.
Acura 1-2 in GTP
Albuquerque set the benchmark fastest time at 1m11.582s in the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura, which was soon beaten by the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais with a 1m11.541s.
Albuquerque took P1 again with 1m10.943s but was bettered by Tom Blomqvist’s Meyer Shank Racing Acura on 1m10.720s. Albuquerque then unleashed 1m10.428s to Blomqvist’s 1m10.489s, with just 0.061s between the Acuras at the time.
Albuquerque sealed the deal with a 1m10.371s, which opened the gap between them to 0.349s, and then set his stunning 1m09.909s – putting him almost seven tenths clear of Blomqvist.
Bourdais was best of the rest, but over a second off the ultimate pace, just clear of Nick Yelloly in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8. Augusto Farfus backed him up with fifth place in the #24 BMW, an impressive result for the improving Rahal Letterman Lanigan-run cars, just ahead of Nick Tandy’s #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.
Alexander Sims will start seventh in the Action Express Racing Cadillac, with Felipe Nasr bringing up the rear of the class in the #7 Porsche.
#27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3: Roman De Angelis, Marco Sorensen
Photo by: Gavin Baker / Motorsport Images
Sorensen’s Aston Martin grabs GTD pole
With no LMP2 or P3 cars in action, GTD is the sole secondary class at Long Beach.
Ross Gunn set the early GTD Pro pace but then had an early moment in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin at Turn 8. Hawksworth took over at the top in his Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F with a 1m18.490s.
Gunn took the provisional pole back with 1m18.113s, but Hawksworth topped him again with 1m17.885s – breaking the class qualifying lap record. He beat that fractionally again to lower the pole time to 1m17.811s.
But that was just pipped by Marco Sorensen in the pro-am #27 Heart of Racing Aston, who lapped in 1m17.811s. Hawksworth had set an even faster first split when the session was curtailed by a huge shunt at Turn 8.
Ashton Harrison (Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX) clipped the wall on the outside and came to halt, before the AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of PJ Hyett, who’d clipped the wall on the inside, slammed into the barrier just behind her. Harrison’s car caught fire, which she was able to escape from, while Hyett was also able to walk away unhurt after his huge impact with the concrete.
Gunn will start third, ahead of Patrick Pilet (Pfaff Motorsports Porsche) and Antonio Garcia (Corvette C8.R).
In an incident-packed session, Brendan Iribe’s #70 McLaren was turned by the #1 BMW Madison Snow at Turn 5 on their out laps. Snow had another spin at Turn 1, and Iribe also spun again later at Turn 5.
The first IMSA sprint race of the season, a 1h40m event, starts Saturday at 2:00pm local (Pacific) time.
