- Porsche Claims Top Spot in SRO3
- Aston Martin Leads the Way in GT4
- Provisional Qualifying Results
Qualifying at Circuit of The Americas set the stage for what’s about to come in GT America powered by AWS, with drivers across both the SRO3 and GT4 classes putting on a clinic in precision under pressure. In the SRO3 Class, Kyle Washington is poised to lead the SRO3 field to the green flag in Race 1, while in GT4, Max Hewitt came out swinging to claim the top spot.
The SRO3 Class saw dramatic shifts in the closing minutes, and kept the fans onsite guessing until the very last lap.
SRO3 Class
Returning series veteran Memo Gidley, in the No. 56 SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVOII, set the early pace as the field came to life. But as the temperatures rose and the track evolved, Ross Chouest in the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R surged to the top, closely followed by Elias Sabo in the No. 80 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 and Justin Rothberg in the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.
In the final minutes, the leaderboard saw some shuffling. Kyle Washington, commanding the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 992 GT3, initially bolted to first with just four minutes remaining, with Gidley slotting into second. Blake McDonald, however, had other plans. With a late flying lap, he put down a blistering 2:04.532 in his No. 11 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R, grabbing pole position by 0.209 seconds over Washington.
McDonald will however, not participate in Race 1, which promoted Washington to first on the grid, with Sabo lining up second.
GT4 Class
Max Hewitt set the pace early in the Qualifying session and never looked back, holding onto the fastest time throughout. His impressive lap of 2:14.539, achieved with his No. 39 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO, secured him pole position for Race 1.
Anthony McIntosh steadily chipped away at Hewitt’s advantage, putting in a series of quick laps in his No. 69 JTR Motorsports Engineering Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 in an effort to close the gap, but ultimately had to settle for second place on the grid.
Meanwhile, a tight battle for third unfolded between Michael Auriemma in the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport and Denny Stripling in the No. 188 Fast Track Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82) EVO, with Auriemma ultimately edging ahead to claim the third starting spot.
Let’s Get Racing
The GT America powered by AWS will return to the track for Race 1 on Saturday morning, April 26th at 11:20 AM CT.
If you can’t make it to Circuit of The Americas, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTCOTA.