Chevrolet and BMW Battle it Out in Back-to-Back Qualifying Sessions

Saturday morning’s back-to-back qualifying sessions were in full swing as the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS teams sped around Barber Motorsports Park in search of fast times.

DXDT Racing further displayed their rapid pace as they secured the overall pole position for Race 1, with Regulator Racing topping the charts in the Pro-Am class. Qualifying 2 saw Pro-Am’s Turner Motorsport in the overall top spot, while Random Vandals Racing went first in the Pro class.

Pro Class

Luca Mars was quickest in early stages of Qualifying 1, sitting first overall in his No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 EVO22 for the majority of the session. That was until Alec Udell came storming through in the No. 63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R to claim the ROWE Pole Position Award with a time of 1:21.231 on his sixth flying lap. The margins were incredibly slim, with only a mere 0.035 seconds separating the two competitors.

Conor Daly finished third in class in the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 in his first-ever qualifying session in the series, moving himself ahead of Bill Auberlen in the No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 and Adam Adelson in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R.

It was a showdown between Kenton Koch and Tommy Milner in Qualifying 2, as only 0.071 seconds separated the Random Vandals Racing and DXDT Racing competitors as the session continued to progress. Although the Team Chevy driver tried with all his might, Koch retained pole position in the Pro class, and the two qualified third and fourth overall for Race 2.

Wright Motorsports’ Elliott Skeer finished just behind them, followed by Racers Edge Motorsports’ co-driver Zach Veach, with Varun Choksey rounding off the top 5 for ST Racing.

Pro-Am Class

Justin Rothberg, who was coming off a strong pole position result in GT America, was running at the top of the Pro-Am field in his No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, with Samantha Tan following closely in second place.

However, it wasn’t long before Phillip Ellis took over, commanding the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Swiss driver set a time of 1:21.410, a mere 0.179 seconds away from the overall pole position. He was sitting second overall for part of the session, but got bumped down to third place in the final laps.

Rothberg will be starting Race 2 from second place, while the No. 64 DXDT Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Bryson Morris set the third-fastest Pro-Am lap time of the session. Tan will be starting fourth, while Jake Pedersen, at the helm of the No. 85 RS1 Porsche 992 GT3 R, rounded off the top 5 in class in Qualifying 1.

In Qualifying 2, there was a very tight battle for the class pole position. It was Riccardo Agostini who lit the track ablaze in his No. 88 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 for most of the session, before he was overtaken by ST Racing’s Neil Verhagen with just over five minutes remaining. However, Robby Foley was quick to join the conversation, moving Turner Motorsport into the top spot just one lap later.

Foley remained at the top of the charts for the remainder of the session, while Verhagen made a last lap attempt to clinch the pole, which ultimately didn’t pan out in his favor. Tom Sargent was a mere three tenths off Verhagen’s time, putting his No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 992 GT3 in third place. Agostini went fourth quickest, both overall and in Pro-Am. Bryan Sellers rounded off the top 5 in his No. 64 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Jay Schreibman, in the No. 163 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Am class entry, set the 16th fastest lap time overall in the opening qualifying session. His teammate Oswaldo Negri took over for Qualifying 2, putting the Ferrari in 10th overall.

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, September 7th at 3:15 PM CT. 

Results are HERE (Q1) and HERE (Q2)