Mario Farnbacher, at the wheel of the #30 Honda NSX GT3 he shares with Bertand Baguette and Renger van der Zande, put Honda Team Motul on pole position for the second round of the 2019 International GT Challenge, the California 8 Hours.
Farnbacher lapped the iconic 2.238 mile (3.602 km) Wets Coast circuit in 1:23.156, .186 quicker the the #35 KCMG Nissan GT-3 NISMO GT3 in which Alex Buncombe put in a 1:23.342.
Completing the top three was the #10 Audi Sport team WRT Audi R8 LMS in which Dries Vanthoor lapped in 1:23.420 in the car he shares with Frédéric Vervisch and Christopher Haase.
Farnbacher was delighted to have placed the Honda NSX GT3 at the front of the grid, given that the #30 entry finished tenth on the time sheets after the three 15-minute qualifying sessions earlier in the day.
“I’m not really sure where that came from!” said the 26-year-old German driver. “We had a lot of fuel onboard when I drove in qualifying earlier today and around here that extra weight makes a big difference. We also fine-tuned the car after qualifying and I think the combination of the two has made the difference. But. honestly, we didn’t expect that sort of time – the other guys in the top-three just said ‘Wow, where dod your time come from?’, but obviously its cool to give Honda and Acura the qualifying lap record at Laguna Seca and especially on our Intercontinental GT Challenge debut.”
The lights go out for the California 8 Hours at 08:30 local time on Saturday March 30.