Patrick Long continued his pace-setting practice form, by scoring pole position in the #31 EFFORT Racing Porsche during Qualifying in Austin, after a lap of 2:04.588 round the Circuit of the Americas.
It was by no means an easy ride for Long though, as the margin between him and the #2 & #3 Cadillac Racing ATS-V.R.’s of Michael Cooper and Johnny O’Connell in second and third was tiny. Just 0.008 separated Long and Cooper in the session, with reigning series champion O’Connell ending up just a further tenth back.
Six manufacturers were represented in the top 11, which as a whole was extremely tight also; in the end there was just a second separating the drivers.
Right outside the top three was Alvaro Parente in the #4 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650s GT3 after a late lap of 2:04.756, while Jamie Davidson’s #33 Always Evolving Nissan GT-R rounded off the top five.
In GTA, the #7 Scuderia Corse Ferrari of Martin Fuentes scored the class pole after a best lap of 2:05.655 which was good enough to line the Mexican up 11th on the grid.
Second in Am category was Michael Schein’s Wright Motorsports Porsche – a second back from Fuentes. Third was the Mills Racing BMW of Michael Mills.
Pole in GT Cup went to Sloan Urry’s TruSpeed Autosport Porsche.
Stephen Kilbey
GTS qualifying
Dore Chaponick Jr. ran a lap under the existing GTS track record at 2:15.347 to score pole for today’s GTS Pirelli World Challenge Round 1 at the Nissan Grand Prix of Texas brought to you by VP Racing Fuels. The 30-minute session was held under overcast skies 60 degree temperatures.
Brett Sandberg, in the No. 13 ANSA Motorsports KTM X-Bow GT4, set the pace early in Texas with a fast lap of 2:17.047 at the eight-minute mark, ahead of Chaponick Jr., in the No. 12 ANSA Motorsports KTM X-Bow GT4, who logged a 2:17.063. At that point in the session Scott Dollahite, in the in the No. 46 SDR Motorsports Lotus Evora, was in third, with a lap of 2:17.047.
At the 10-minute mark, the order changed as Dollahite took his Lotus to position one with a fast time 2:16.349 over Chaponick Jr., who had also gone faster, with a 2:16.595. Sandberg remained in third, ahead of Parker Chase with a lap of 2:17.326, driving the No. 19 Performance Motorsports Group Ginetta GT. Chase was fastest in the second GTS practice session on Friday.
A few moments later, Sandberg went back to first with a lap of 2:16.209, and Nate Stacy, driving the No. 14 Roush Performance Road Racing Ford Boss 302, jumped to fourth with a lap of 2:16.641 followed by two-time GTS driver’s champion Lawson Aschenbach, in the No. 10 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro, in fifth with a lap of 2:16.649.
With eight minutes to go the fast time changed again as Chaponick, Jr. went to the top with a lap of 2:15.347, under the existing GTS qualifying track record set last year by Kris Wilson in an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 (2:15.943). That lap would stand up for the GTS pole ahead of Sandberg, who will start on the outside of the front row. Dollahite qualified third with Stacy and Aschenbach following.
