Rothberg, Moses, and Fitzpatrick Score Pole Positions Ahead of Race 1

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Rothberg, Moses, and Fitzpatrick Score Pole Positions Ahead of Race 1

GT America powered by AWS kicked off Saturday’s action at VIRginia International Raceway with a high-intensity fifteen-minute qualifying session that saw tight battles and shifting positions right up until the checkered flag.

Justin Rothberg, CJ Moses, and Michael Fitzpatrick will lead the field to the green in their respective SRO3, GT2, and GT4 classes ahead of Race 1 scheduled for later this afternoon.  

SRO3 Class 

In the SRO3 class, Justin Rothberg struck first in his No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, going to the top of the charts after the first round of flying laps with quick sector times in the second and third splits. But it was Blake McDonald who responded with just five minutes remaining, jumping ahead in the No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

The two traded blows lap after lap in a thrilling back-and-forth, with Rothberg momentarily reclaiming the top spot before McDonald once again laid down a flier to seal the fastest lap with a time of 1:46.658, continuing his dominant run after topping both Practice 1 and Practice 2.

Rothberg would ultimately settle for second-fastest, just 0.161 seconds off the mark. However, with McDonald not slated to compete in Race 1, Rothberg will be promoted to pole position, with Memo Gidley lining up alongside in second aboard the No. 56 SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

GT2 & GT4 Class 

The GT2 class saw CJ Moses set off around his home track, setting a time of 1:53.838 on board his No. 58 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2. 

In GT4, it was all Michael Fitzpatrick from the drop of the green. The 89x Motorsports driver controlled the session from start to finish to secure class pole in his No. 89 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4, with teammate John Dean slotting in behind in the No. 09 Aston.

Let’s Get Racing

The GT America powered by AWS will return to the track for Race 1 on Saturday afternoon, July 19th at 1:10 PM ET. 

If you can’t make it to Virginia International Raceway, 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 #GTVIR.