O’Connell Storms to COTA Pole

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Johnny O’Connell will start this afternoon’s GT America powered by AWS from the pole after storming to the top spot in qualifying at Circuit of The Americas.

The SKI Autosports driver reeled off a best lap of 2:06.430 in his No. 3 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II to edge out James Sofronas by 0.041 seconds.

Sofronas’ No. 14 GMG Racing Audi, meanwhile, was just 0.076 seconds quicker than third-placed Justin Rothberg in his No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, who ended up third after a late flyer by Sofronas.

It proved to be an ultra-competitive 15-minute session, with the top-six all separated by less than three-tenths.

Ross Chouest qualified fourth in the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, followed by George Kurtz’s No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG and SRO3 points leader Jason Daskalos in his No. 27 CRP Racing entry.

While Alan Grossberg picked up another pole in GT2 in his No. 102 TPC Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2, it was Issac Sherman who returned to the top of the time charts in GT4, as Sherman looks to continue his undefeated run of wins this season.

Sherman, in the No. 098 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, recorded a best time of 2:15.348 to outpace Gray Newell and Curt Swearingin for top qualifying honors in class.

Race 1 of the weekend gets underway at 3:25 p.m. CDT with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch.

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