The Brazilian skillfully navigated the 17-turn, 3.74-mile circuit and jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a flying lap of 1m48.152s to claim pole in the #31 Cadillac V-Series.R prepared by Action Express Racing.
Sebastien Bourdais was able to propel the Cadillac prepared by Chip Ganassi Racing to second, 0.147 seconds behind.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s #40 Acura ARX-06, which missed Thursday evening’s practice due to an engine change, was next quickest thanks to Louis Deletraz's effort, while the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng seized fourth.
However, Ricky Taylor, in the sister WTR Andretti entry, actually set the fastest time in GTP, but he received extra work on the machine during a red flag, which voided his overall time of 1m48.038s.
Earlier, Phil Hanson had the top time of 1m51.441s in the #85 Porsche 963 for JDC-Miller MotorSports until the red flag and Hanson ended up sixth.
The #6 Penske Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet, who was out on his maiden run, had a significant shunt after his right rear went over the kerbing at the exit of Turn 1, which sent the car into a wild slide that resulted in the nose slamming into the barrier.
The incident brought out red flags and left four minutes in the remainder of the segment.
Source: Autosport