Maxwell, Cooke Take CTSC Poles at Sebring

Photo: IMSA

Scott Maxwell picked up where he and co-driver Billy Johnson left off in January’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season-opener at Daytona, with Maxwell storming to the overall pole for Friday’s Sebring 150.

The Daytona-winning No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Shelby GT350R-C was the car to beat in Thursday’s qualifying session, with Maxwell recording a best lap of 2:16.834 in the session.

It was Maxwell’s 11th career pole and first since Circuit of The Americas of last year.

Hugh Plumb qualified his No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche 997 in second, nearly four-tenths slower than Maxwell’s pole-time, with the No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Danny Burkett completing the top-three in GS.

Paul Holton in the No. 76 Compass 360 Racing Ford Shelby and Dennis Trebing’s No. 21 Muelhner Motorsports Cayman GT4 completed the top-five overall and in class.

Tyler Cooke, meanwhile, claimed ST pole honors, taking his No. 81 BimmerWorld Racing BMW 328i to a flyer with just seconds left on the action-packed session.

Cooke reeled off a 2:25.863 lap time to edge out Daytona class pole-sitter Elliott Skeer by 0.045 seconds.

It marked Cooke’s second career Continental Tire Challenge pole and the team’s first since Road America in 2013, also with Cooke.

Skeer will line up second in his No. 8 Rebel Rock Racing Porsche Cayman, ahead of the No. 56 Murillo Racing Cayman of Jeff Mosing in third.

Justin Piscitell (Alara Mazda MX-5) and Chad Gilsinger (HART Honda Civic Si) completed the top-five in class.

The ST qualifying session was extended by 10 minutes following an early red flag for a two-car incident in Turn 1, which involved the No. 74 Compass 360 Racing Audi S3.

The Sebring 150 gets underway Friday at 12:20 p.m. ET.

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