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GT World Challenge America

Smith Takes Dyson Bentley to Pole at Miller

Guy Smith gives Bentley first earned pole in Pirelli WC…

Photo: John Dagys

Photo: John Dagys

Guy Smith gave Dyson Racing Team Bentley its first earned pole in Pirelli World Challenge, taking the No. 88 Bentley Continental GT3 to the top qualifying honors for today’s penultimate round of the season at Miller Motorsports Park.

The Bentley factory driver reeled off a quick lap of 1:48.524 in his V8-powered beast, outpacing the title-contending No. 2 CRP Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra of Mike Skeen by a considerable 0.418 seconds.

It marked Smith’s second consecutive World Challenge pole after starting first in last month’s round at Sonoma due to setting the quickest lap in the opening race of that weekend.

Smith’s teammate Butch Leitzinger will line up third in the No. 08 Bentley, ahead of the No. 6 K-PAX Racing McLaren MP4-12C of Robert Thorne in fourth.

Ryan Dalziel completed the top-five overall and in the GT class aboard his No. 31 EFFORT Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Championship leader Johnny O’Connell qualified his No. 3 Cadillac CTS-V.R in 8th, nearly one-second slower than pole-sitter Smith, while teammate Andy Pilgrim was 9th.

EFFORT Racing’s Michael Mills, meanwhile, captured the GT-A class pole, thanks to a 1:50.418 lap time.

Mills’ time was 0.766 seconds quicker than Tim Pappas, who ended up second quickest in class in his Black Swan Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.

Mark Wilkins earned the GTS class pole, taking his No. 38 Kinetic Motorsports Kia Optima to a best lap of 1:57.679.

Championship leader Wilkins, who can clinch the title in today’s race, outpaced the No. 73 GT Sport Porsche Cayman of Jack Baldwin by 0.1676 seconds.

Nic Jonsson will line up third in class in his No. 36 Kia, with the TRG Aston Martin GT4s of Nick Esayian and Drew Regitz completing the top-five.

Round 15 gets underway at 4:50 p.m. MT, with live coverage on World-ChallengeTV.com.

RESULTS: Qualifying

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

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