Sonoma Raceway Qualifying: Four Manufacturers Earn Pole Amongst Class Battles for Race One and Race Two

Sonoma Raceway Qualifying: Four Manufacturers Earn Pole Amongst Class Battles for Race One and Race Two
  • Q1: RS1 Porsche with Eric Filguiras and Steven McAleer take PRO Pole, Adam Adelson and Elliot Skee of Wright Motorsports Porsche PRO-AM
  • Q2: Racers Edge Motorsports Acura with Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher PRO Pole, PRO-AM for ST Racing BMW M4 with John Edwards and Samantha Tan
  • RealTime Racing Mercedes-AMG of Andy Pilgrim and Anthony Bartone AM Pole
  • Qualifying 1 Results
  • Qualifying 2 Results 


Qualifying One:  Shortened by Red
The Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS had kept the sessions clean until qualifying. Competitors had a meager three minutes for the first Qualifying session after a red flag halted progress. No one was harmed but the time shortage put drivers under stress to get the most out of their machines with little time.

PRO-Class
Five minutes into the Qualifying One session Anthony Bartone in the No. 43 RealTime Racing Mercedes- AMG GT3 went off and slid alongside a tire barrier. Bartone was unharmed, but his session was complete at the waving of the red flag. In session one, the No. 28 RS1 Porsche GT3 of Eric Filguiras and Steven McAleer topped the charts for PRO qualifying with a 1:37.026 and making Filgueiras and McAleer the first Rowe Pole Award winners in the series. Chandler Hull took the No. 94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 to second in class, followed by the No. 53 MDK Motorsports Porsche GT3, who will start Race One third.

PRO-AM and AM Class
The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Adam Adelson and Elliot Skeer took the top spot with a 1:37.695, followed by the No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 of George Kurtz and Colin Braun. Starting Race One in third is the No. 14 GMG Racing Audi.

Qualifying Two Green and Clear
Qualifying Two was green for the full 15-minute display of speed. Fans could have mistaken the qualifying session as a race with competitors pushing each other as well as themselves to shave as much time off their lap as possible.

PRO-Class
The Acura NSX GT3 EVO22 of Racers Edge Motorsports, with Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher, took the pole for Race Two in the PRO Class. The BimmerWorld and Bill Auberlen took the No. 94 BMW M4 GT3 to second in class for a second time. The MDK Motorsports No. 53 Porsche GT3 R 922 of Trenton Estep and Seth Lucas also duplicated their effort with another third-place start.

PRO-AM and AM Class
Qualifying Two saw ST Racing with John Edwards and Samantha Tan in the No. 38 BMW M4 GT3 take the Rowe Pole Award by qualifying overall, laying down a lap of 1:35.237. The PRO-AM Class had a dramatically tight qualifying session with Braun behind Edwards in the No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes AMG GT3 by .355 seconds and the No. 9 Mercedes AMG GT3 of Ziad Ghandour and Daniel Morad with TR3 Racing by .577 seconds behind Braun.

The RealTime Racing No. 43 Mercedes AMG GT3 of Andy Pilgrim and Anthony Bartone brilliantly steered clear of red flag action to turn clean laps keeping the car ready to race later today.

Up Next
Race One takes the green flag at 3:05 p.m. PT but only after the pomp and circumstance of the pre-race beginning at 2:55 p.m. For Race Two, Sunday, April 2, the race is prefaced with an open fan walk for all attendees to enjoy. Tickets are still available for purchase.

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