Austin, TX – GMG Racing’s James Sofronas has scored the pole for Saturday afternoon’s GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Round 1 race at Circuit of The Americas (COTA). Racers Edge Motorsports’ Trent Hindman grabbed the pole for Sunday’s Round 2 race.
The 30-minute qualifying session split into two 15-minute segments to determine grids for Rounds 1 and 2 was held under overcast 56-degree Fahrenheit conditions. Light precipitation was falling throughout the session.
Early in the first 15-minute segment, Sofronas, a GT World Challenge America veteran with over 200 series starts, topped the charts in his #14 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (991) with a 2:29.440. Sofronas then bettered his time a couple of laps later with a 2:28.928. As the clock expired to end the session, the Southern California native’s time held for the overall and Pro/Am division pole. Starting alongside the GMG Racing pilot will be Silver category competitor Shelby Blackstock in the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 who posted the second quickest time with a 2:29.917. The 2019 Am Driver’s Champion Martin Fuentes will start third overall and second in Pro/Am in his #1 Squadra Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 (2:30.888). David Ducote posted the quickest Am category time of 2:40.669 in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (991).
Teams then changed out drivers for the second session. Early on, Ryan Dalziel posted a 2:18.478 behind the wheel of his #63 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to jump to the top with Blackstock’s teammate Hindman now behind the wheel of the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 slotting into second on the charts with a 2:19.169. A flurry of action occurred with under four minutes remaining as several competitors set fast times. Matteo Cressoni in the TR3 Racing #24 Ferrari 488 GT3 jumped to the top with a 2:16.281. Then on his last flying lap Hindman took the overall pole and tops in the Silver category with a 2:15.013. Cressoni also posted a fast time on his last flying lap with a 2:15.917 and will start second, first in the Pro/Am category. Ducote’s teammate Alan Metni will start on pole in the Am division (2:21.977).
Results are provisional until posted final.
GT World Challenge America competitors now prepare for the first race of 2020 scheduled for a green flag start of 1:35 pm Central. Follow all the action at world-challenge.com and across social channels (Facebook: @gtworldchallengeamerica) (Instagram & Twitter: @sroamerica).
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