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WEST of SALT LAKE CITY, Ut — Luis Diaz put the pedal to metal when he had to, and the Lowes Fernandez Acura LMP1 responded during the last three minutes of the qualifying session to take the team’s fourth straight pole position in the LMP1 class at the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix, overcoming an early performance advantage by the Mazda Lola team.

Diaz posted a time of 1:33.047 on his second lap in qualifying around Miller Motorsports Park to take the class lead. With only three minutes remaining in qualifying and both Dyson Mazdas improving their pace, Diaz returned to the track. He managed to find another three-tenths of a second in the closing stages to secure the fourth class pole position for Lowe’s Fernandez Racing this season with a 1:32.749 time.

Interestingly enough, after setting the pace for most of the pre-qualifying time period, the Dyson Racing Entry fell to third in the LMP2 class behind the sister team of Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti who clocked in at 1:33.513. The Dyson team was .127 behind in fifth overall.

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In the LMP1 class Simon Pagenaud continued his winning ways (after a pole and win at the race in Spa last weekend for Peugeot LMP1 team)  captured pole position for de Ferran Motorsports with a new track record his Acura ARX-02a with a time of 1:30.645 (121.052 mph) to best the other Acura ARX-02a driven by David Brabham by 0.736 seconds.

“The team made good changes for qualifying; we did a great job with those and did a good lap,” said Diaz, who like Pagenaud won his first pole at St. Petersburg. “We have the right tire compound with the Michelins for tomorrow. So we are really looking good for the race.”

Diaz and Fernandez are unbeaten this year in races and qualifying. They won the season-opener at Sebring on the famed road course before taking back-to-back street circuit victories. Returning to road courses means no concrete walls but a considerable amount of other dangers.

“Here you have to be watching for the speed difference between you and the GTs,” Diaz said. “On the street courses you don’t have these big speeds. For the prototypes you can really maximize the car here. You can have a Porsche off in the distance and by turn 1, 2 or 3 be on their bumper. It will pay to keep your nose clean tomorrow.”

Jörg Bergmeister won the GT2 pole position in the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR that he will share with Patrick Long. The German Porsche factory driver set a class record with a lap of 1:47.210 (102.435 mph). His lap was 0.145 seconds better than Risi Competizione’s Jamie Melo in a Ferrari F430 GT.