Acura Team Penske Sweeps Qualifying at Laguna Seca

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September 16, 2019

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MONTEREY, Calif., Sept. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Acura Team Penske swept the front row in qualifying today for Sunday’s Monterey SportsCar Championship race, with Ricky Taylor claiming the pole with a new lap record time of 1:15.035 in his Acura ARX-05 prototype, and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya claiming the outside of the front row with the second-fastest qualifying run.

In GTD, Trent Hindman continued his run of front-row starts this year for Meyer Shank Racing, and will start second in his Acura NSX GT3 Evo.

Acura Team Penske ARX-05
Taylor and co-driver Helio Castroneves paced the final practice sessions prior to qualifying, and Taylor went to the top of the time charts in the 15-minute DPi qualifying session, posting a new qualifying record of 1:15.035 in his Acura ARX-05 to take his first pole of the season, and the fourth of the year for Acura.

Teammate Montoya led the first half of the session, and ultimately slotted in second in the ARX-05 he will share with Dane Cameron, just over three-tenths of a second off Taylor’s pole-winning time. The pole is the fourth of the season for Team Penske – one for each of the team’s full-season drivers – and the third 1-2 sweep for Acura, with the others coming at Detroit and at Road America.

Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo
GTD championship leader Trent Hindman led qualifying until the final minutes of the session with a time of 1:25.063, when a last-lap effort from Paul Miller Racing’s Corey Lewis dropped him to second by the narrow margin of 0.101 of a second. Hindman will be starting his Meyer Shank Racing Acura from the front row of the GTD field for the fourth time this season – including three GTD poles – before handing off driving duties to co-driver Mario Farnbacher.

Returning to the #57 MSR/Heinricher Racing Caterpillar NSX GT3 she will share with four-time Acura GTD race-winner Katherine Legge, Christina Nielsen qualified seventh, just 0.349 tenths of a second off the pole in the very competitive GTD category.

Where to watch
Live network television coverage from WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca begins at 3 p.m. Sunday on NBC. Complete, live race coverage will also be available on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App with NBCSN authentication.

Quotes
Ricky Taylor (#7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) pole qualifier: “I was the only one on the team without a pole [this year] and I just felt like I had to pull my weight today! The whole team gave us a fantastic Acura today, locking out the front row shows what a great team it is. It’s going to be a tough race tomorrow. We need to make sure we can keep the tires under us, and be there at the end.”

Trent Hindman (#86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo) qualified second in GTD: “Once again, the turn around for this Meyer Shank Racing team from practice yesterday to qualifying today was pretty ‘mega.’ I think we went a little bit too far in one direction [with the chassis setup] in qualifying here, but it was good to learn that for tomorrow. Of course, I wanted the pole, but at the end of the day we’re thinking ‘championship’ and we’re certainly in a great starting position.”