Mancinelli Takes Shock Pole for GT Race 1 in St. Pete

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Daniel Mancinelli has claimed a shock overall pole for Saturday’s Pirelli World Challenge GT/GTA/GT Cup season opener on the streets of St. Pete.

The 28-year-old Italian, in his PWC debut, took his GTA class TR3 Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 to a quick lap of 1:13.953, outpacing the likes of Pierre Kaffer and defending GT champion Alvaro Parente for top qualifying honors.

Mancinelli was 0.037 seconds quicker than the No. 4 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS of Kaffer, who claimed the GT class pole, also in the German’s first series round.

The No. 9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3 of Parente was third, followed by the repaired No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari of Alex Riberas in fourth. 

Patrick Long completed the top-five overall in the No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

A red flag halted the session with less than five minutes remaining, and did not restart, due to an accident by Jorge De La Torre in the No. 04 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.

Neither of the GT Cup class competitors set times in qualifying, with the No. 77 Calvert Dynamics Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car still undergoing repairs from Preston Calvert’s accident on Thursday.

The No. 43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 of Ryan Eversley, meanwhile, also missed qualifying as the team waits on spare parts. 

The first GT/GTA/GT Cup race of the weekend gets underway Saturday at 9:35 a.m. ET.

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