UPDATED: Corvette Earns Pole Position Ahead of Race 1

UPDATED: Corvette Earns Pole Position Ahead of Race 1

* UPDATE: The No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 will have all qualifying laps deleted and start from the rear of the grid for both Race 1 and Race 2 due to ride height violation.

The clouds began to roll in as the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS field embarked on two back-to-back fifteen minute Qualifying sessions to set the grid for Race 1 and 2.

It was Phillip Ellis and Regulator Racing who stood above the rest to clinch pole position for the first race of the weekend, with Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley doing the same for the second race to follow on Sunday. However, after the post-qualifying technical inspections, it was found that the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 will have all qualifying laps deleted and start from the rear of the grid for both Race 1 and Race 2 due to ride height violation.

Pro Class

Alec Udell secured a front row start for DXDT Racing ahead of Race 1, setting the fastest time in the Pro class in his No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and the second-best time overall. 

Bill Auberlen and Luca Mars will line up alongside each other in the No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 and No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 EVO22 after qualifying second and third in class. Meanwhile, Madison Snow showed promising pace in the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3, sitting fourth, ahead of Adam Adelson in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R. 

In Qualifying 2, it looked as though it was a done deal for Elliott Skeer, who topped the Pro charts for the majority of the session aboard the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche. However, Tommy Milner was able to lay down a faster lap as the checkered flag waved, edging out Skeer by a mere 0.003 seconds. The No. 63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R claimed the Pro class pole position, and second-fastest time overall. 

Zach Veach, at the helm of the Racers Edge Motorsports Acura, went third quickest in the Pro class with a time of 2:04.582, which granted him the seventh-best lap time overall. Random Vandals Racing will be starting fourth in class again for Race 2, this time with Kenton Koch taking the green flag, as Varun Choksey rounded off the top 5 in his No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3. 

Pro-Am Class

Phillip Ellis was behind the wheel of the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in Qualifying 1, clinching the top time in the Pro-Am class in addition to earning the overall ROWE Pole Position Award with a time of 2:03.976. 

Newcomer Bryson Morris had an impressive performance in the No. 08 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, qualifying second in class just ahead of the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Samantha Tan. Justin Rothberg finished the session in fourth in the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, with RS1’s Jake Pedersen following in fifth in the No. 85 Porsche 992 GT3 R.  

Qualifying 2 saw Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley rise to the top of the timesheets and claim the overall pole for Sunday’s Race 2. Tom Sargent qualified second in the Pro-Am class in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 992 GT3 R, while DXDT Racing’s Bryan Sellers hung on to third position in class despite going for a small spin off-track in the final minutes. Neil Verhagen claimed fourth in class for ST Racing, while new entrant Kyle Marcelli completed the top 5 in the No. 92 MMG Porsche 992 GT3 R. 

Notably, Am class entrant Will Hardeman qualified seventh overall in Qualifying 1 in his No. 19 Esses Racing with Mercedes-Benz of Austin Mercedes-AMG GT3, while AF Corse’s Oswaldo Negri went eighth quickest overall in Qualifying 2 in the No. 163 Ferrari 296 GT3. 

Let’s Get Racing

The Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS field will return to the track for Race 1 on Saturday afternoon, August 18th at 3:10 PM CT. 

If you can’t make it to Road America, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free livestreams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTRoadAmerica.