Spencer Pumpelly has gotten his Pirelli GT4 America Sprint championship bid off to the best possible start, having claimed pole position for this afternoon’s season-opening round on the streets of St. Petersburg.
The TRG driver recorded a new track qualifying record, taking his #66 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport to a 1:18.112 lap time in the fast-paced qualifying session.
Pumpelly edged out the #41 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Jade Buford by 0.289 seconds.
Both drivers continued their strong starts to the weekend after pacing Friday’s practice sessions on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit. Pumpelly led the way in Practice 1, while Buford was quickest in the day’s afternoon session.
Gar Robinson qualified third in the #74 Robinson Racing Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R with a 1:18.452 lap time, followed by Ian James in the #50 Panoz Avezzano GT4, in fourth.
Robinson’s teammate, Shane Lewis, completed the top-five in Robinson’s second Camaro.
Owing to the competitiveness of GT4 America, cars from four different GT4 manufacturers qualified in the top-five, with the top-three all eclipsing the previous track record from last year.
Andretti Grabs GT4 Am Pole for Andretti Autosport, McLaren
Jarett Andretti claimed his first career GT4 America pole position in a hard-fought qualifying session for Am class competitors.
The Andretti Autosport driver recorded a 1:19.431 lap in the #18 McLaren 570S GT4 to edge out the #51 Panoz of Preston Calvert by less than two-tenths.
Alan Brynjolfsson, who teamed with Trent Hindman for victory in last weekend’s GT4 SprintX season-opener at Circuit of The Americas, qualified third in his Park Place Motorsports Porsche.
Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Michael Dinan and Marko Radisic, in his BMW M4 GT4, will start fourth and fifth in class, respectively.
Race 1 for GT4 America Sprint gets underway at 4:10 p.m. ET. Live coverage will be available on World-Challenge.com and tape-delayed coverage on CBS Sports Network.