- Pumpelly, Porsche to Start First in Race 1
- Cooper, McLaren Score Overall Pole for Race 2
- Double Garcia Top Starts in Am Class
- Provisional Qualifying 1 Results
- Provisional Qualifying 1 Results
Temperatures at Road Atlanta are rising, but the lap times only got quicker as the Pirelli GT4 America field flew around the 2.54-mile circuit in back-to-back Qualifying sessions to set the grid ahead of Race 1 on Friday and Race 2 on Saturday. While many competitors in the field were new to the Georgia circuit, others have years of experience under their belts, and knowledge proved to be valuable around these hills.
In the end, it was RS1 and Blackdog Racing who stood out and raised the bar, with the ROWE Pole Award going to Spencer Pumpelly and Michael Cooper for each respective race.
Silver Class
Qualifying 1
After going quickest in Practice 2 the day prior, Spencer Pumpelly picked up right where he left off, scoring the overall pole position in his No. 028 RS1 Porsche with a time of 1:26.627. This put him over half a second clear of the next-closest competitor, Westin Workman in the No. 68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota Supra. Austin Jurs also had a strong Qualifying session, going third-quickest in his No. 131 Advance Motorsports McLaren, just 0.088 seconds behind Workman.
Qualifying 2
Luca Mars followed his teammate’s pace, putting RS1 back in the top position in the Silver category for Race 2. He earned himself a front row starting position, but went second-quickest overall in the session. However, he established quite the gap between himself and the remainder of the Silver field, with Jimmy Llibre going second in class, but sixth overall. It was another top 3 qualifying time in class for RAFA Racing, this time with Tyler Gonzalez, who will start from P8.
Pro-Am Class
Qualifying 1
The Pro-Am field was tightly packed together, but it was ultimately Matt Travis who came out on top with his No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche. He will start ahead of the rest of his class competitors, lining up in seventh position for Race 1. Random Vandals Racing’s Sam Craven will join from second in class and eighth overall in the No. 94 BMW, accompanied by Allen Patten in succession with his No. 39 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG.
Qualifying 2
Michael Cooper set the field ablaze with his No. 33 Blackdog Racing McLaren Artura GT4, with a blistering time of 1:25.797 earning him the fastest lap across both sessions. He will lead the field to green in Saturday’s event, while Matheus Leist will attempt to challenge from second in class and third overall in the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche, accompanied by newcomer Mason Filippi alongside in the No. 49 Bryan Herta Autosport McLaren.
Am Class
Qualifying 1
Michael Garcia was quick to impress in his No. 21 ACI Motorsports BMW, not only going fastest in the Am class, but placing himself in sixth overall for the upcoming Race 1 this afternoon. Dome Motorsport’s Laura Hayes went second-quickest in class in the No. 37 Mercedes-AMG GT4, and will line up 16th overall on the grid, with James Walker Jr. qualifying another two places behind with his No. 36 BimmerWorld MW.
Qualifying 2
ACI Motorsports were seeing double as Alex Garcia also rose to P1 in his respective qualifying effort. He will line up in 17th overall in Saturday’s race, a few positions ahead of James Clay in the BimmerWorld machine, and Kris Wilson in the No. 413 Colorado Motorsport with Flying Lizard BMW.
Let’s Get Racing
The Pirelli GT4 America field will return to the track for Race 1 on Friday afternoon, June 12th at 3:50 PM ET.
If you can’t make it to Road Atlanta, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on SRO RaceControl, YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTRoadAtlanta.