Mathieu Jaminet waited to get on track, then saved his best lap for the end of Saturday’s 15-minute qualifying session at Laguna Seca.
Jaminet claimed the Motul Pole Award in GTD PRO for the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Presented by Motul with a late lap of 1 minute, 23.142 seconds around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile circuit.
His effort put the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R he’ll co-drive with Matt Campbell in the number one starting position in GTD PRO for the start of Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute race.
Waiting to leave the pits at the start of the qualifying session helped Jaminet find space on the track and save his tires for the late lap.
“I don’t know if waiting was the secret, but I definitely had a very good lap,” Jaminet said. “I think I did my best lap of the weekend at the right time. The team did amazing, a really fantastic job. I’m really pleased with that.”
Winning the pole made up for an unfortunate incident on April 10 at Long Beach that dropped the No. 9 Porsche out of the GTD PRO points lead. After battling near the front of the field during the first stint of that race, the car was forced to retire when an errant wheel nut from the No. 3 Corvette improbably flew through the air and punctured the car’s radiator while the car was undergoing service on pit lane.
Jaminet’s lap topped the best lap by Daniel Juncadella by just 0.022 seconds. The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 that Juncadella co-drives with Cooper MacNeil was clocked at 1:23.164.
The No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 co-driven by Alex Riberas and Ross Gunn will start third in the six-car GTD PRO field after Riberas’ lap of 1:23.368.