Murillo Scores VIR Pole in Damp Conditions

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Kenny Murillo will start Saturday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix from the pole, taking Murillo Racing and Mercedes-AMG to top qualifying honors in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge competition.

Murillo reeled off a best lap of 1:53.242 to outpace the No. 8 McCann Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Michael McCann by a considerable 1.160 seconds.

The No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 of Dillon Machavern qualified third, followed by Matt Travis and Luca Mars, which completed the top-five for Nolasport and KohR Motorsports, respectively.

It came as a bitter-sweet qualifying session for Murillo, which saw the sister No. 56 Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Jeff Mosing suffer a crash in Turn 16 with five minutes to go.

The session did not restart, although Mosing limped the car back to the pit lane.

Tyler Gonzalez claimed top qualifying honors in TCR aboard his Van der Steur Racing Hyundai Veloster N TCR.

Gonzalez, who claimed his second career Pilot Challenge pole, recorded a best lap of 1:57.157 to edge out the No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Harry Gottsacker by 0.482 seconds.

Mason Filippi will start third in class, with Michael Johnson in fourth, marking a sweep of the top four positions by the Korean manufacturer.

Victor Gonzalez was best of the rest in his VGRT Honda Civic Type-R TCR.

The Virginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix gets underway Saturday at 4:40 p.m. ET with live coverage on Peacock and IMSA Radio.

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