Victor Gonzalez CUPRA Stripped of Daytona TCR Pole

Victor Gonzalez Racing has been stripped of its TCR class pole position for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge opener at Daytona due to a technical infraction relating to bodywork repairs.

Franco Girolami had initially steered the No. 99 CUPRA Leon VZ TCR to pole in the category in a 1-2 for the Spanish brand, but was moved to the back of the class due to illegal bodywork repairs.

A statement from IMSA outlined that “the car was found to have bodywork repairs in violation of TCR technical regulation 7.3.1, which states that all servicing or repair must be made in good faith to restore the car and all components to their originally intended form and function as defined by the specification.”

As a result of the penalty, the No. 77 Stallion Motorsport with Gou CUPRA was promoted to pole position, with the No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Honda Civic FL5 TCR moved up to the front row.

The BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona is scheduled for Friday at 1:45 p.m. ET with live coverage on Peacock and IMSA’s YouTube channel.