For the second consecutive GT World Challenge America event, it’ll be Philip Ellis and the #91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO on pole position later today at Sebring, then Robby Foley and the #29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO on pole for tomorrow’s second race.
In Qualifying 1, Ellis and the #91 Regulator Mercedes-AMG took the top spot with a best time of 1:59.839, displacing the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Kenton Koch from the top spot by a tenth and a half.
Koch was the only other driver under the two-minute mark in the first session, setting a 1:59.984 to take provisional pole until Ellis went ahead with less than five minutes left in the 15-minute session.
Behind the #99 BMW, the #18 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Alex Sedgwick was third-fastest, just ahead of the #34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Michai Stephens in fourth – and the top Bronze driver, Blake McDonald, was a solid fifth in the #11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
McDonald, ahead of Bill Auberlen in the #51 Random Vandals BMW, who was sixth. Justin Rothberg qualified the #29 Turner BMW in seventh, then in a very strong eighth place was the #6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3, the only Am class entry in the field, driven by Scott Dollahite.
Jason Daskalos had set a time good enough for ninth place, but late in the session he cut a tyre coming out of turn 16 and had to come into the pits to repair damage – not permitted while on the clock for a Qualifying session, which stripped the #27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG of all its lap times. The car was fixed in time for Isaac Sherman to make a run in ‘Q2’, however.
The second qualifying session was disrupted due to an early red flag: The #6 Dollahite Ford, now driven by Stefano Gattuso, lost its left-rear wheel while it was warming up its tyres and brakes.
It turned ‘Q2’ into a six-minute sprint. Connor De Phillippi set the early benchmark in the #99 Random Vandals BMW – but his 1:59.925 was eventually surpassed by the #29 Turner BMW of Robby Foley – the fastest man in practice on Friday – who put the top spot out of reach with a 1:59.478.
At the chequered flag, Matt Bell set a 1:59.795 to put the #11 DXDT Corvette on the front row of Sunday’s race, ahead of De Phillippi, then the #18 RS1 Porsche of Jan Heylen in fourth.
Mikaël Grenier was fifth-fastest in the #34 JMF Mercedes-AMG, then Aaron Telitz put the #88 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 EVO in sixth. Tom Sargent in the #32 GMG Racing Porsche, and Aaron Povoledo in the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Corvette rounded out the top eight.
Saturday’s race starts at 3:00 PM ET (local time) and will air live on the official GT World YouTube channel and on RACER Network in the United States.
Images © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America
