Rayhall Takes 8Star to PC Pole at VIR

Photo: John Dagys

8Star Motorsports will start today’s first segment of the Prototype Challenge race from the pole following a blazing lap set by Sean Rayhall in qualifying Saturday at Virginia International Raceway.

Rayhall pedaled the Takis-sponsored No. 25 Oreca FLM09 to a quick lap of 1:41.447 in the 15-minute qualifying session to give the Enzo Potolicchio-owned team its first TUDOR United SportsCar Championship pole.

It was more than one-second clear of the competition, outpacing the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry of Frankie Montecalvo by 1.105 seconds.

Per IMSA rules for the unique 45-minute double segment round this weekend, each team’s Silver-rated driver qualified the cars and will also handle driving duties in this afternoon’s first segment.

Rayhall will then hand off driving duties to his Gold-rated co-driver, Luis Diaz, for Sunday’s second segment.

The pair of RSR Racing entries from Duncan Ende and Chris Cumming will line up third and fourth, respectively, followed by championship leader Jon Bennett in the No. 54 CORE autosport Oreca, who completed the top-five overall and in class.

All nine of the PC entries set times in qualifying, which will race alongside the IMSA Prototype Lites Championship. Andrew Novich claimed pole position in the Lites L1 class.

The first PC/Lites segment gets underway at 5:15 p.m. ET today, with the finishing position determining the grid for the points and race-deciding segment two at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday.

RESULTS: Qualifying (PC)

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