Pepper, Ellis Take COTA Poles

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Jordan Pepper and Phillip Ellis have scored pole positions for this weekend’s pair of Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS races at Circuit of The Americas.

Pepper reeled off a 2:10.455 in the championship-leading No. 3 K-PAX Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo in the closing moments of the first 15-minute session, which came under drying conditions.

The South African, who suffered a right-rear puncture early on in the session, rebounded to outrun the sister No. 6 K-PAX entry of Giovanni Venturini by 0.413 seconds.

Michael Dinan put the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 third on the grid for Race 1 ahead of the Pro-Am class pole-sitting No. 70 inception racing McLaren 720S GT3 of Brendan Iribe, in the team and car’s series debut.

Iribe was more than two seconds quicker than the No. 9 TR3 Racing Lamborghini of Ziad Ghandour, who qualified second in Pro-Am with the sixth quickest time overall.

The lone Am class No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 did not set a representative time after its rear wing came dislodged with Jean-Claude Saada at the wheel.

It did not set a time in Q2.

RESULTS: Qualifying 1

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Ellis Storms to Pole for Race 2

Winward Racing broke K-PAX’s three-race pole streak with Ellis’ 2:05.951 lap time in the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

The Swiss ace was 0.144 seconds quicker than Lamborghini factory driver Giacomo Altoe in the No. 9 TR3 Racing entry, which took Pro-Am class pole honors.

Jan Heylen will start Race 2 from third overall on the grid and second in Pro-Am, ahead of the No. 04 DXDT Racing Mercedes of Colin Braun and teammate Ryan Dalziel, who completed the top-five.

Q2 came under nearly dry conditions with similar lap times seen in Friday’s practice sessions.

Race 1 is set to get underway at 1:15 p.m. CT with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube page. Race 2 takes place Sunday at the same time.

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