Maxson Edges Out Hedge for Seventh Pole of Season

Photo: Jessica Johnk/Porsche

Tyler Maxson edged out Callum Hedge for his seventh Porsche Carrera Cup North America pole of the season.

Maxson, in the Pro class points leading No. 77 Topp Racing Porsche 911 Cup, laid down a best lap of 1:20.486 in Thursday morning’s qualifying session at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

It was a mere 0.010 seconds quicker than Hedge, in the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche.

Maxson’s title rival Aaron Jeasonne will roll off third on the grid for Race 1, thanks to a 1:20.594 lap time, while Janne Stiak (ACI Motorsports) snd Paul Bocuse (Kellymoss) completing the overall top-five.

Marco Cirone grabbed another class pole in the Masters class in his ACI entry, outpacing the lone Pro-Am entrant of the weekend, Patrick Mulcahy, who has already wrapped up the class title.

The session saw several off-course excursions, but no red flags.

It included the No. 70 JDX entry of Joel Johnson, who spun in Turn 1 and continued, while the sister Porsche of Frank Vitiello stopped on course in Turn 3.

The No. 3 CSM Porsche of Nikita Lastochkin was reported off course in Turn 6, while John Goetz made contact with the Turn 1 barriers and ended the session in the runoff in his No. 57 Kellymoss Porsche.

Race 1 gets underway at 5:25 p.m. EST with live coverage on Peacock, Porsche Motorsport North America and IMSA’s YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John