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Pirelli GT4 America

Szymczak, Staveley Grab Portland SprintX Poles

Murillo Mercedes on pole for today’s SprintX race; Am-class Ford to front Sunday’s grid…

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO America

Christian Szymczak and Drew Staveley claimed the pole positions for this weekend’s pair of Pirelli GT4 America SprintX races at Portland International Raceway.

Szymczak, pictured, scooped the primary grid position for Saturday afternoon’s 60-minute, two-driver contest in the first of two quickfire qualifying sessions.

The Murillo Racing driver steered the No. 34 Mercedes-AMG GT4 to its third pole in four races with a time of 1:17.189 set with just over five minutes left on the clock.

Szymczak, whose car is competing for West series Pro-Am points, remained on top of the pile despite a series of late improvements from a handful of competitors.

Rearden Racing’s Vesko Kozarov came closest with a time of 1:17.567 in the Am-division No. 91 Audi R8 LMS GT4, while 18-year-old Ryan Dexter slotted into third late on after pushing the Dexter Racing Ginetta G55 GT4 to a 1:17.745.

Jon Miller, who was an early session leader, qualified third in the No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT4, in front of the No. 47 Porsche 718 Cayman Clubsport GT4 with Matt Travis at the helm.

Staveley Puts Am Ford on Race 2 Pole

The times tumbled in the separate qualifying session for Race 2, with Drew Staveley scoring pole in the West series Am-class No. 24 Ian Lacy Racing Ford Mustang GT4.

Jason Wolfe led most of the session in the No. 38 ST Racing BMW but his provisional pole time was dismantled with two minutes to go by Staveley, who became the only driver to break the 1-minute 17s barrier.

Staveley’s time of 1:16.982 ended up being just 0.070 seconds quicker than Wolfe’s 1:17.052, while Jason Hart qualified the Nolasport Porsche a further 0.052 seconds back in third.

Szymczak’s co-driver Kenny Murillo came through in fourth, ahead of defending Portland SprintX race winner Harry Gottsacker in the other ST Racing BMW entry.

The first race of the weekend is set to get underway this afternoon at 2:15 p.m. local time, while Race 2 is scheduled for Sunday.

RESULTS: Qualifying 1
RESULTS: Qualifying 2

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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