If there was a particular treat during TUDOR United SportsCar Championship qualifying today at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, it was the fans who watched a close battle between Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP driver Richard Westbrook and Extreme Speed Motorsports’ Johannes van Overbeek as they traded fast lap until the dying moments of the session. The second treat was the newfound pace for the P2 portion of the Prototype class.

When they were done, van Overbeek, a native of nearby Oakland, scored the first Prototype pole of his career and the first for a P2 chassis from four rounds of TUDOR Championship competition.

JvO’s lap of 1:18.561 in the No. 2 ESM HPD ARX-03b was 0.227 second clear of Westy’s 1:18.788 in the No. 90 SDR entry. Third in Prototype went to the sister No 1 ESM HPD ARX-03b driven by Ryan Dalziel (1:18.970).

“The ESM Tequila Patron guys have been hustling all year,” said JvO. “We’ve started to figure out the Continental Tire and the car just kept getting better and better so I think it bodes well for tomorrows race. The long fast corners particularly suit this kind of car, we’re still not nearly as fast in the straightaways but we make up for it in other places, so I think that will make for a very interesting race tomorrow. Ed will start and I will finish [tomorrow]. It was a little challenging for me because the predictive lap timer didn’t work so I just wanted to push hard but I didn’t want to throw it off, so I was kind of struggling with that a bit.

“But finally the car came in, the tires came in right at the end and I made up all the time coming down the hill. It feels great, I’d much rather win than coming in on the pole, but it’s a start. You know, the GTLM cars are relatively close to us in aggregate, so I don’t think there will be a lot of lapped traffic, a lot of yellows, so I don’t think think it will be an issue unless you catch a train of GTLMs there at the end. All of those guys are very good, I’ve raced against them for a very long time and I don’t expect a lot of trouble.”

Balance of Performance adjustments leading into Monterey that targeted a decrease in DP power appeared to have the desired effect – at least on hot tires and with no traffic – as P2s placed first, third and fourth overall. The Corvette DP package, in the hands of the rapid Westy, came close to pole, but the next-best Corvette DP from Action Express Racing could only get within 0.614 seconds of the pole-winning P2.

Ford’s twin-turbo V6 EcoBoost engine, which scored back-to-back wins at Sebring and Long Beach with the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team, could do no better than seventh with Ganassi’s Memo Rojas a full 1.4 seconds off of JvO’s best.

ALMS P2 pole in 2013 was set by Level 5 Motorsports’ Marino Franchitti on Michelin tires at a 1:16.642. Grand-Am Rolex DP pole last year was earned by Westy with a 1:21.557, albeit without all of the performance upgrades IMSA has permitted for 2014.

GT Le Mans qualifying honors went to Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia who pushed the No. 3 C7.R to a lap of 1:22.373, clearing the No. 56 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 of John Edwards and Dirk Muller (1:22.578) by 0.205 seconds. The Rolex 24 at Daytona-winning No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR of Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz (1:22.678) will start third. Garcia, who scored the most recent GTLM victory at Long Beach with teammate Jan Magnussen, eclipsed the 2013 ALMS GT pole of 1:22.732 set by former Risi Competizione driver Matteo Malucelli.

The second and final TUDOR Championship race of the weekend with 12 Prototypes and 11 GT Le Mans cars takes place Sunday afternoon (2:30 p.m. PT/5:30 p.m. ET, Live, FOX Sports 1).

Three PC protagonists turned their 15-minute qualifying session into a private battle early Saturday evening. RSR Racing’s Bruno Junqueira threw the final punch, recording the only sub 1:20 lap to take pole with a 1:19.723. Starworks Motorsports’ Renger van der Zande traded pole times with Junqueira but was forced to settle for second (1:20.117) ahead of 8Star Motorsports’ Sean Rayhall (1:20.421). Pole position for the ALMS PC class in 2013 went to CORE autosport’s Colin Braun at a 1:18.382.

The fight for pole position in GT Daytona went down to the final lap as Flying Lizard Motorsport’s Spencer Pumpelly knocked Alex Job Racing’s Leh Keen off the top spot just as Keen was pitting in the No. 22 Porsche 911 GT America.

Keen’s 1:26.962 stood as a half-dozen cars took late shots at his time, but Pumpelly moved the No. 45 FLM Audi R8 to the pole with a giant lap of 1:26.695 as the checkered flag waved. Third went to Christopher Haase in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Audi R8 with a 1:27.101.

22 GTD cars and eight PC entries are set to take the start Sunday morning during the first race in Monterey (10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET, Live, FOX Sports 1).

• Click here for full qualifying results.