Winward Racing and US Racetronics Sweep Qualifying For Mercedes-AMG

GT World Challenge America qualifying at Road America was a showcase of the might of the Mercedes-AMG GT3s’ horsepower. The #33 Winward Racing AMG GT3 of Russell Ward and Philip Ellis qualified fastest for Race 1 later this afternoon, while Race 2 pole position for tomorrow was won by the #6 US Racetronics AMG GT3 of Steven Aghakhani and Loris Spinelli.

Despite a big accident in TC America qualifying prior to the start of Qualifying 1, the first session started on time at 9:00 AM local time. Rain and storms are in the forecast for the afternoon, but conditions were dry throughout qualifying despite the heavy cloud cover – with ambient temperatures hovering between 17~18°C and track temperatures of 20~21°C.

With the Bronze and Silver drivers taking centre stage in Q1, Chandler Hull was first out of the blocks to set a benchmark time in the #94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3, with a 2’06.389.

Seconds later, the #33 Winward AMG GT3 of Ward crossed the line with a quicker time of 2’05.691 to leap to provisional pole, before Aghakhani surpassed him with a time of 2’05.473.

But on his next flying lap, Ward sealed pole position, improving to a 2’05.266 to head to the top of the time sheets. As the tyres wore off towards the end of the 15 minute session, no team had an answer for the Texas native’s time as he took his first pole of the season.

Aghakhani’s time stood second, ahead of Hull, who took the Pro-Am class pole in third overall.

K-PAX Racing’s streak of four consecutive Race 1 pole positions came to an end. Lacking the top-end grunt of their rivals, the green #3 K-PAX Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Misha Goikhberg was fourth, ahead of the black #1 K-PAX Lamborghini of Michele Beretta – who won three straight Race 1 poles since joining the team – in fifth.

The #23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Charlie Scardina qualified a strong sixth overall to take the Am class pole position for Race 1.

Scardina and Onofrio Triarsi Jnr only need to record a classified finish later today to mathematically, and officially, clinch the Am Cup Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships.

They will also be the sole representative for Triarsi in today’s race after the withdrawal of the #37 Pro-Am car of Justin Wetherill and Ryan Dalziel, following a major accident in GT America Practice 2 for Wetherill.

Rounding out the top ten from Qualifying 1 were the #96 Turner Motorsport M4 GT3 (Michael Dinan), the #04 CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports AMG GT3 (George Kurtz), the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R (Charlie Luck), and the #08 Qelo Capital/DXDT Racing AMG GT3 (Scott Smithson).

FGTWCA QUALIFYING 1 RESULTS >>

Next it was the true Pro drivers’ turn to take the stage in Qualifying 2 after a five-minute interval.

Loris Spinelli has been a force in qualifying throughout the season, racking up three Race 2 poles in the previous four race meetings. With the awesome top speed of the Mercedes underneath him, Spinelli rocketed to the top of the leaderboards first with a time of 2’03.318, by far the quickest time of the weekend.

He bettered that mark on his second lap, improving to a time of 2’02.880. Spinelli was able to stand on that time throughout the session, only going back out for diagnostic checks to prevent an issue from derailing their race.

It’s the fourth Race 2 pole for Spinelli, and he’ll share the front row with the #33 Winward AMG GT3 of Ellis, who qualifed second with a time of 2’03.491. It’s a pair of all-Mercedes front rows for the main series this weekend.

Mario Farnbacher qualified third aboard the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3, giving himself and co-driver Ashton Harrison the pole in Pro-Am for Race 2 tomorrow afternoon. Jordan Pepper was fourth in the #3 K-PAX Lamborghini, followed by Colin Braun in the #04 CrowdStrike/Riley AMG GT3 in fifth.

Bill Auberlen was sixth in the #94 BimmerWorld M4 GT3, with Bryan Sellers (#08 Qelo/DXDT AMG GT3), Jan Heylen (#45 Wright Porsche), Dirk Mueller (#63 Usalco/DXDT AMG GT3), and finally – Andrea Caldarelli, only able to muster tenth in the #1 K-PAX Lamborghini.

Taking part in their home race for the first time in three years, Saukville, Wisconsin’s RealTime Racing team will start from the middle of the 16 car fields in both races.

Erin Vogel qualified the #43 RealTime NSX GT3 in 11th for Race 1, and Michael Cooper was 12th-fastest in Race 2 qualifying.

In their first qualifying session at TR3 Racing, the #91 Lamborghini (Jeff Burton/Corey Lewis) managed 14th and 15th, respectively. The #032 GMG Racing Porsche (Kyle Washington/James Sofronas) was 15th and 16th in the two qualifying sessions as the only other Am car besides the #23 Triarsi Ferrari.

FGTWCA QUALIFYING 2 RESULTS >>

The question for Saturday’s race is potentially not if the rain and storms will play a factor, but how much. We’ll know closer to the scheduled start time of 2:15 PM local time.

Images © Brian Cleary, Fred Hardy, Regis Lefebure / SRO Motorsports Group America