Parente, Vilander Take Watkins Glen Poles

Photo: K-PAX Racing

Alvaro Parente and Toni Vilander will start on pole for Rounds 9 and 10 of the Blancpain GT World Challenge America at Watkins Glen International.

Parente reeled off a 1:43.320 lap in the No. 9 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3, outpacing the points-leading No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 of Daniel Serra by 0.204 seconds.

Rodrigo Baptista made it two K-PAX Bentleys in the top-three.

The pair of Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Rs completed the top-five, despite gearbox issues for the No. 22 entry of Daniel Morad.

Anthony Imperato scored GT3 Pro-Am pole in the No. 91 Wright Motorsports Porsche, while the No. 19 One11 Competition Ferrari of Chris Cagnazzi took top qualifying honors in GT3 Am.

An accident by Henry Schmitt by the No. 87 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M6 GT3 occurred as the checkered flag came out, although minimal damage appeared to be sustained by the BMW.  

It led to a delay in the start of Q2 due to tire barrier repairs.

Photo: Brin Cleary/SRO

Championship Leader Vilander Tops Q2

Vilander stormed to another pole for R. Ferri, thanks to a 1:43.295 lap time by the Finn, which was marginally quicker than Parente’s Q1 pole-sitting time.

Maxime Soulet in the No. 3 Bentley was second, followed by Ryan Dalziel, who put the No. 63 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 on the Pro-Am class pole with an impressive third quickest overall time.

Dane Cameron was fourth in the No. 43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo, with Kyle Marcelli putting three Pro-Am cars in the top-five overall.

GT3 Am class honors went to the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Takuya Shirasaka.

The first 90-minute race of the weekend gets underway at 3:10 p.m. ET with live coverage on the series’ official website.

RESULTS: Qualifying 1
RESULTS: Qualifying 2

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