(Long Beach, Calif.) April 14, 2023 — Filipe Albuquerque piloted the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 into pole position during Friday’s qualifying session for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Albuquerque’s flying lap posted a time of 1:09.909 – a half of a second faster than the second-place qualifier for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP field. With the pole position for the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06, Acura locked in the front row for the manufacturer’s home race.
“It feels so good to be in pole position in Long Beach, the home of Acura,” said Filipe Albuquerque. “Through the two practices we seemed to be a little quicker than the other manufacturers, but between the two Acuras we were really close, and the fight was mainly between us. We were never underestimating anybody, so there was still a lot of tension to secure that pole. Again, my lap came out really well and it seemed that we had an edge on everybody, so super happy with the pole position by half a second with such a strong field feels good.”
TOP FIVE STARTING GRID
- No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 (Acura ARX-06) R. Taylor, F. Albuquerque (101.343 mph)
- No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian (Acura ARX-06) C. Braun, T. Blomqvist (100.375 mph)
- No. 01 Cadillac Racing (Cadillac V-Series R) S. Bourdais, R. van der Zande (99.812 mph)
- No. 25 BMW M Team RLL (BMW M Hybrid V8) C. De Phillippi, N. Yelloly (99.783 mph)
- No. 24 BMW M Team RLL (BMW M Hybrid V8) P. Eng, A. Farfus (99.271 mph)
Albuquerque and the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 will lead the field to the green flag for tomorrow’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach at 2:05pm PT. All 100 minutes of the first sprint race of the season will be broadcast on USA Network and Peacock.
ABOUT KONICA MINOLTA
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.’s (Konica Minolta) journey started 150 years ago, with a vision to see and do things differently. The company innovates for the good of society and the world. The same purpose that kept it moving then, keeps it moving now. Konica Minolta aims to partner with clients to Give Shape to Ideas by supporting their digital transformation through its expansive Intelligent Connected Workplace portfolio. Its business technology offerings include IT Services, intelligent information management, video security solutions and managed print services, as well as office technology and industrial and commercial print solutions. Through its ongoing work, the company is fortunate to be continuously recognized for its products and services. This includes, but is not limited to being included on CRN’s MSP 500 list numerous times; named a finalist in the IT Software Category by The World Technology Awards; recognized as the #1 Brand for CustomerLoyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys and presented with Keypoint Intelligence’s BLI 2021 A3 Line of The Year and BLI 2021-2023 Most Color Consistent A3 Brand Awards for its bizhub i-Series.
Sustainability also continues to be a key driver for the company. As such, Konica Minolta Inc. has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for nine consecutive years and has spent six years on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World list. For more information, please visit Konica Minolta online and follow its accounts on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter.
The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 effort and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport is supported by an outstanding lineup of partners including Harrison Contracting Company, Acura Motorsports, Honda Performance Development and Hammer Nutrition .
