LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) Christian Fittipaldi won the pole position for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Long Beach on Friday with a fast lap of 1 minute, 14.962 seconds in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype.
''Starting in the front on a street course definitely makes your life easier,'' said Fittipaldi, who shares the car - and the past two IMSA Prototype class championships - with Joao Barbosa.
Ricky Taylor qualified second for the race Saturday in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP with a lap of 1:15.133. She shares the car with brothers Jordan.
The No. 70 Mazda Prototype was third, the best start ever for the Mazda team, with a lap of 1:15.641 by Tom Long, who shares the ride with Joel Miller.
In the GT Le Mans class, Bill Auberlen, from nearby Redondo Beach, staked his claim for his third win at Long Beach in four years with a lap of 1:17.272 in the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM. He was three-thousandths of a second quicker than 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Earl Bamber in the No. 912 Porsche North America entry.
The Prototype Challenge starting grid was set based on driver points after an incident brought out a red flag and prevented the session from reaching its minimum 10 minutes of green-flag running time. As a result, Misha Goikhberg will start from the class pole.
