Mancinelli Takes Road America Pole

Daniel Mancinelli bounced back from a practice crash to take pole position for the first Pirelli World Challenge race of the weekend at Road America.

Mancinelli’s best lap of 2:04.960 in the No. 31 TR3 Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 was 0.054 seconds clear of Michael Christensen’s Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, which will start second.

The K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 machines of Alvaro Parente and Rodrigo Baptista sandwiched Scott Hargrove’s Porsche for positions three, four, and five overall.

Martin Fuentes locked down the GTA class pole for Squadra Corse Garage Italia ahead of Parker Chase of TruSpeed Autosport.

Accident Mars GTS Qualifying

The GTS field was set in a separate qualifying session which was truncated by a heavy accident for George Kurtz in the No. 04 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4, which had been second in GTSA at the time of the accident.

Class pole honors went to Ian James in the No. 50 Panoz Avezzano GT4, who turned a lap 0.291 seconds quicker than Jade Buford in the No. 55 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4.

Mark Klenin, meanwhile, took GTSA class pole honors.

No one in the GTS field turned more than two timed laps due to the lengthy red flag.

Lawson Aschenbach, who posted the fastest GTS practice speed on Friday, did not set a time after an accident at the exit of Turn 1 in final practice that immediately preceded qualifying.

The Blackdog Speed Shop team identified a suspension issue that they believe caused the accident and expect to be able to repair in time for the race this afternoon. Aschenbach has won the last four GTS Sprint races.

Race 1 for GT/GTS competitors gets underway at 4:35 p.m. CDT with live coverage on World-Challenge.com.

RESULTS: GT Qualifying
RESULTS: GTS Qualifying