Having seen their run of victories come to an end last time out at Road Atlanta, Penske Porsche went the right way about ending an almost immaculate season on a high by locking out the front row at Laguna Seca.
The final round of the 2007 season, Penske have won all but once in the LMP2 class this year and have won eight of the last eleven rounds overall too. However, having seen that eight-strong streak come to an end in the previous round, Penske got back on form at the Mazda Raceway with Sascha Maassen, paired with Ryan Briscoe, claiming pole position.
Edging out team-mates Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, Maassen's time of 1min 10.528secs, the time was more than good enough to beat the previous lap record. In fact, the top 13 cars all dipped below the previous marker around the Monterrey circuit.
"I may be thinking about living here now," Maassen quipped. "If I move to the US, it will be close to here. I like the circuit and the circuit likes me. The car is really good, and this track is made for our car because there are no big straights."
That fact alone was enough to ensure that LMP2 entries dominated the grid positions, with the Andretti Green Racing Acura of Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta claiming third ahead of the sister Highcroft Racing entry of David Brabham, Stefan Johansson and Robbie Kerr.
The best of the Audis was newly crowned champions Allan McNish and Dindo Capello in fifth place overall, albeit six tenths off pole position. Their team-mates Marco Werner, this weekend paired with DTM driver Mike Rockenfeller, will start two places further back in seventh, with the Lowe's Fernandez Acura splitting them.
The two Dyson Porsches filled places eight and nine, with the Arena Zytek of Tom Chilton and Darren Manning rounding out the top ten.
Back to just two entries again, the Corvette of Jan Magnussen and Johnny O'Connell this time claimed pole position in the GT1 class, with 16th on the grid overall.
