Hand Takes Ford, CGR to Fifth Pole of Season

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Joey Hand will start Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge from the overall pole after taking Ford Chip Ganassi Racing to its fifth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole of the season.

Hand reeled off a 1:40.211 lap time in the No. 66 Ford GT to jump to the top of the time sheets late in the 15-minute session, edging out the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM of Alexander Sims by 0.204 seconds.

It marked Hand’s third pole of the season and fourth for the No. 66 car, following co-driver Dirk Mueller’s pole run at the last round at Road America.

The No. 24 BMW of John Edwards will start third, followed by Giancarlo Fisichella, in Risi Competizione’s return to the GT Le Mans class this weekend.

Tommy Milner completed the top-five in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R, followed by the sister, championship-leading No. 3 Corvette of Jan Magnussen in sixth. 

Both of the pair of Porsche 911 RSRs struggled in qualifying and will roll off 8th and 9th in class, with the No. 911 entry of Dirk Werner suffering a spin at the Oak Tree Corner, although only making light contact with the barriers.

The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is set for Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET, with live coverage on FS1.

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