Brichacek, Workman Claim Friday Night Poles at COTA

Wyatt Brichacek earned the first poles of his IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge career in LMP3, while Westin Workman remained a perfect four-for-four in GSX in Friday evening’s qualifying for tomorrow’s pair of races at Circuit of The Americas.

Driving the No. 30 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325 Toyota, Brichacek turned an overall fastest lap of 1:28.856 to claim the pole for Saturday’s first 45-minute race of the day, which takes the green flag at 11:30 a.m. CT.

Brichacek also will start from pole in Saturday’s nightcap scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT with a second-best lap of 1:28.904 during the 15-minute session that finished in darkness.

Brichacek’s qualifying performance, which bested the previous LMP3 track record of 1:30.042 set by Valentino Catalano last year by 1.156 seconds, came on the heels of a difficult practice session a few hours earlier on Friday.

Brichacek will be joined on the front row for both races by Oscar Tunjo, who was second aboard the No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsports USA Duqueine D08 Nissan with a best qualifying lap of 1:29.433 and a second-best lap of 1:29.544.

Tunjo enters the weekend at the VP Racing Challenge championship leader in LMP3 with victories in both races of the season-opening doubleheader at Daytona International Speedway in January. He started both of those races from the pole position.

Starting third for both races will be local driver Danny Soufi in the No. 11 PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing Duqueine. The Austin resident clocked a best lap of 1:29.835 and a second-best lap of 1:30.058.

On the surface, Workman’s 1.6-second margin over second-place for Race 1 and a 1.2-margin for Race 2 would seem like easy work for the Charlotte-based Toyota development driver.

But not unlike Brichacek’s challenges in Practice 2, Workman and his RAFA Racing crew had their hands full battling a misfire in both of the day’s practice sessions.

Workman posted a best lap of 1:39.034 in the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 and a second-best lap of 1:39.695 to earn his third and fourth poles of the season.

He heads into Saturday looking to keep his perfect record on the season intact.

After topping the GSX time charts in Practice 2, Courtney Crone will start second in both races aboard her No. 35 CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 EVO.

Crone’s fastest lap was a 1:40.758 and her second-best lap was 1:40.906. She’s looking for her first podium results of the season on Saturday after posting a season-best result of fourth in Race 2 at Daytona.

Jon Brel will start third in GSX for Race 1 with a best lap of 1:42.021 in the No. 81 Kingpin Racing Toyota.

Marc Austin, who hails from nearby Buda, Tex., starts third for Race 2 with a second-best lap of 1:42.422 in his No. 22 Mad Joker Racing by Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4.

Both of Saturday’s VP Racing Challenge races will be streamed live on Peacock and the IMSA YouTube Channel.

Race 1 starts at 12:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. local) and Race 2 is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. ET (5:30 p.m. local) following the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Focused Health 250.

RESULTS: Qualifying