Choksey Grabs Sebring Pole With Record Pace in RAFA Toyota

Varun Choksey dominated qualifying for the Alan Jay Automotive Networks 120 by grabbing pole by a third of a second at Sebring International Raceway for the second round of IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.

The RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 driver immediately set the pace when the 15-minute qualifying session began and soon bettered the series’ qualifying record to post a 2:09.089.

He then pulled into the pits at the mid-point of the session and no-one was able to surpass his time.

Joining Choksey on the front row will be Moisey Uretsky in the Accelerating Performance McLaren Artura GT4 having posted a 2:09.421.

There was another strong qualifying for VPX Motorsports as Danny Dyszelksi set the third fastest time aboard the squad’s No. 7 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport to follow up team-mate Matheus Leist’s front-row start at Daytona.

Completing the second row was another Toyota, this time the No. 54 Panam Motorsport Supra of Caio Chaves, who was less than a tenth of a second slower than Dyszelski.

Luca Mars put in an impressive performance in the best of the BMW M4 GT4 EVOs to put the No. 95 Turner Motorsport entry fifth, and he was the only other driver to post a time in the 2:09s with a 2:09.927.

Rounding out the top six was Ford Koch in the Koch-Copeland Motorsports Toyota, while reigning Mustang Challenge North America champion Robert Noaker was seventh in the McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4.

Hannah Greenemeier overcame an off at Tower in the middle of the session to improve to eighth late on in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

The top ten was then completed by Nicky Hays in the No. 92 Random Vandals BMW and Paul Holton in the No. 46 Team TGM Mustang.

There was a dramatic start to the session when Sean McAlister in the No. 39 CarBahn by Peregrine Motorsport BMW hit the No. 91 Vintage Racing Company Porsche of Dan Ammann on the Ullman Straight, with the BMW unable to post a time as a result.

Pasquarella Edges Extremely Close TCR Qualifying

The battle to top the TCR class was much closer with Rocco Pasquarella taking his first series pole in the KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Honda Civic FL5 TCR by just 0.030 seconds over Franco Girolami in the No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing CUPRA Leon VZ TCR.

Girolami grabbed pole last time out at Daytona and again topped the early stages of the 15-minute session at Sebring, reducing his time to a 2:11.750.

But that was not good enough to deny Pasquarella who posted a 2:11.720 to narrowly take the spoils.

Mason Filippi was not far adrift either in third with a 2:11.901 in the best of the Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCRs, while Raphael Reis in the No. 77 Stallion Motorsport with Gou CUPRA was almost half a second further back in fourth.

The Alan Jay Automotive Networks 120 is due to take place at 1:55 p.m. EST on Friday with coverage on Peacock and also a livestream on IMSA’s YouTube channel for international audiences.

RESULTS: Qualifying