Sofronas, Hindman Take COTA Poles

Photo: Gavin Baker/SRO

James Sofronas and Trent Hindman have scored poles for this weekend’s pair of season-opening GT World Challenge America powered by AWS races at Circuit of The Americas in a damp turned wet qualifying sessions.

Sofronas will start this afternoon’s Race 1 from the pole, thanks to a 2:28.928 lap time set in his No. 14 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

His time came on slick Pirelli tires amid a damp and increasingly wet track throughout the 15-minute session.

A spin and contact with the wall in the final corner for the No. 20 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Fred Poordad resulted in an early red flag and restart with ten minutes left on the clock.

Sofronas outpaced the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Shelby Blackstock by 0.989 seconds, with the No. 1 Squadra Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 of Martin Fuentes set to start third.

Patrick Byrne, in the No. 8 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 and Ziad Ghondour’s No. 24 TR3 Racing Ferrari completed the top-five overall.

David Ducote, meanwhile, claimed GT3 Am class pole with the 12th quickest time overall in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche.

Last Lap Flyer Nets Pole for Hindman in Race 2

Trent Hindman will start Sunday’s Race 2 from the pole, thanks to a last-lap flyer on wet Pirelli tires in his No. 93 Acura.

Hindman reeled off a 2:15.013 as the clock expired to bump the No. 24 TR3 Ferrari of Matteo Cressoni from the top spot.

Cressoni, however, still managed to score GT3 Pro-Am class pole as a result of Hindman’s entry competing in the Silver Cup.

Kyle Marcelli qualified third in the sister Racers Edge Acura, followed by the No. 1 Squadra Corse Ferrari of Rodrigo Baptista in fourth.

Colin Braun completed the top-five as the best of the DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos, which dominated Friday’s dry practice sessions.

Teammate Ryan Dalziel lost two of his timed laps due to track limits, although said he wasn’t notified until the checkered flag. The No. 63 DXDT Mercedes Evo will start seventh overall.

Unlike the first qualifying session, Q2 was declared wet by race officials, which saw all teams switch to wet weather tires.

Race 1 gets underway this afternoon at 1:35 p.m. local time 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