Sometimes racing feels like a cruel joke. Just ask Dries Vanthoor, who’s been absolutely dominating Saturday qualifying sessions in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, only to watch victory slip away come Sunday.
The Belgian hotshot just landed his fourth straight pole position at Laguna Seca, wheeling the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 around the legendary circuit like it was on rails. It’s the kind of qualifying streak that hasn’t been seen since Ricky Taylor’s remarkable run back in 2011 — back when hybrid race cars seemed about as likely as flying cars, and TikTok wasn’t even a twinkle in ByteDance’s eye.
“For sure I’m very happy to have four consecutive poles,” Vanthoor mentioned after climbing out of the cockpit, managing a smile that couldn’t quite mask his frustration. “A bit sad that I don’t have any wins out of them.” Talk about an understatement.
The numbers tell quite a story. Vanthoor’s pole-winning lap — a blistering 1:12.854 around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile Monterey circuit — showcased just how tight things are at the pointy end of the GTP field. When you’ve got 11 state-of-the-art hybrid prototypes separated by less than a second (0.864 to be precise), you know you’re watching something special.
But here’s the rub: while Vanthoor’s been playing qualifying hero, it’s the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 that’s been hogging all the Sunday glory. The BMW squad’s best showing? A third-place finish at Long Beach last month, where Vanthoor and co-driver Philipp Eng at least got to spray some champagne. Small consolation, really.
“We’re very motivated and we are going to push hard tomorrow in every area and every aspect,” Vanthoor declared, sounding like a man who’s had quite enough of playing bridesmaid. He didn’t mince words about the team’s struggles either: “It’s obvious we haven’t been executing flawless races. Too many mistakes, but I think we’ve been really working hard since the last race to come here fully prepared.”
The qualifying battle itself shaped up as a proper BMW-Porsche slugfest. Matt Campbell muscled the No. 6 Porsche 963 into second, while championship points leader Felipe Nasr planted the No. 7 car in third — yeah, the same car that’s been making everyone else look silly on Sundays.
Down in GTD land, where the more production-based machines duke it out, Kenton Koch grabbed pole in the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3, clocking a 1:20.810. Not too shabby for what’s essentially a hopped-up road car.
As teams prep for tomorrow’s showdown at the track they call the “Corkscrew” (if you’ve seen that downhill left-right combo, you know why), the big question isn’t about Vanthoor’s raw speed anymore. It’s whether BMW can finally turn their Saturday swagger into Sunday success. After all, in this game, starting first only matters if you finish there too.
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