Kevin Magnussen drove the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-VR No. 01 to his first IMSA pole on Friday. (Al Steinberg photo)
DETROIT, Michigan – Kevin Magnussen’s first few laps of Detroit’s difficult street circuit couldn’t have gone better.
Magnussen, who moved from Formula 1 to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the off-season, won the Motul Pole Award for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic on Friday when he first met the Belle Isle Park circuit.
Magnussen was clocked with 1 minute 20.031 seconds in the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-VR No. 01. That was 0.021 seconds faster than Harry Tincknell’s best lap in the Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi RT24-P No. 55.
On a track that was notoriously difficult even for experienced racing drivers, Magnussen’s first attempt at qualifying on the 14-corner, 2.35-mile street circuit went smoothly. In fact, he was quick from the start.
“Turns 1 and 2 are a great part of the track that I was really looking forward to,” said Magnussen. “That was a very strong part of my laps so far this weekend. It is a very difficult route to drive because it is so bumpy in places. If you change your line a little, you will hit the bumps differently. “
When he split from the Haas F1 team at the end of the 2020 season, Magnussen, a 28-year veteran of seven seasons in F1, joined Chip Ganassi’s IMSA program. The results so far have not been what he expected, but his enthusiasm is evident.
“I just missed racing to win,” said Magnussen. “This year, the feeling of racing reminds me a bit of what it was like before Formula 1. I kind of miss this feeling. “
Magnussen will start the 100-minute race on the first Saturday, the fourth of the 2021 season for the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) class, in the car he shares with Renger van der Zande. Magnussen and van der Zande occupy sixth place in the drivers’ standings, 236 points behind the leaders Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the number 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05.
Pipo Derani was third-best in qualifying with the number 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-VR behind Magnussen and Tincknell. Tristan Vautier challenged the leaders during Friday’s 15-minute session before his No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-VR slid into the tire barrier at turn four with five minutes to go.
Taylor set the fourth fastest lap, followed by Vautier and Olivier Pla.
The post Kevin Magnussen receives first IMSA prototype pole first appeared on monter-une-startup.
