Qualifying for the Monterey Motorsports Reunion was held on the second day of the event, Friday the 16th, with Weldon Munsey from Mazda North American Operations, driving the Mazda RX-792P, taking pole position.

On the same day at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, qualifying for the demonstration race was also held. The 1980s Group C cars, IMSA GTP cars, and GT touring cars driving in Group 6B had a 20-minute qualifying session, with the Mazda RX-792P recording the top time. Just like the Mazda 787B, this car is equipped with an R26B-type 4-rotor rotary engine, and is geared to match this circuit, so one could say the conditions were perfect for the car. Munsey commented, “I've been driving this car on this track since 2003, and I don't know how many hundreds of laps I've done. Today's qualifying was the best I've ever done at any time. I'm looking forward to the race the day after tomorrow.” Meanwhile, Terada's Mazda 787B posted the 5th-quickest time. “During practice, the ride height at the front of the car was too high, and the stabilizer settings weren't correct, so I had them adjusted. I've also had the brake balance adjusted. As a result, it's much easier to drive now,” said Terada, sounding reasonably confident. The vice president of Mazda North American Operations, Robert Davis, was in an upbeat mood after getting advice on the fine-tuning of his engine from Nomura, a mechanic who came all the way from Hiroshima. “Today's race was my best ever. I set a new personal record. I can finally mount my attack,” he commented after taking the seventh spot on the grid. The Mazda RX-7 GTO was found to have fuel leaking from its gas tank, but will be repaired in time to appear in Sunday's race, though the car was forced to forego today's qualifying session. However, the car's best time from the previous day's practice session was accepted, resulting in a fourth-place in qualifying.

There's no official schedule for the Group 6B machines on Saturday August 17, when each car will have its final servicing in preparation for the race. Qualifying will be held on Sunday morning, the results of which will determine each machine's position on the starting grid for the race at 3:20pm.