Morad, CRP Take VIR Race 1 Pole

Daniel Morad led a Mercedes-AMG front-row sweep in qualifying for GT Race 1 at Virginia International Raceway, narrowly edging Mike Skeen by 0.088 seconds.

Morad’s best lap of 1:41.953 in his No. 2 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 is nearly a second faster than the existing GT qualifying lap record, set by Skeen last year in an Audi R8 LMS.

Skeen will start second in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes that he shares with Scott Heckert, while Rodrigo Baptista turned in an impressive run to third overall on the grid and the first of the Pro-Am runners in the No. 3 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3.

Alvaro Parente will start fourth in the sister K-PAX Bentley while overall points leader Scott Hargove rounded out the top five in the No. 96 Pfaff Motorports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Caesar Bacarella, meanwhile, secured the pole in the GT Am category for Squadra Corse Garage Italia.

Race 1 for GT class competitors is scheduled for 1:25 p.m. EDT with live streaming coverage available at World-Challenge.com.

RESULTS: Qualifying