James, Panoz on GTS Pole at Road America

Ian James notched the maiden pole for the Panoz Avezzano GT in Pirelli World Challenge GTS competition on Saturday at Road America, edging second-place Ernie Francis Jr. by 0.032 seconds.

James took just three laps to log his fast time of 2:17.915. Only the top two cars managed to reach the 2:17 range.

Wisconsin native Jeff Courtney was close to that mark, turning a lap of 2:18.097 in the No. 99 JCR Motorsports Maserati GT4, good enough for third.

ANSA Motorsports driver Austin Versteeg was fourth overall and fastest of the Am subclass with a lap of 2:18:693 in his KTM X-Bow GT4, while Martin Barkey was fifth in his Mantella Autosport KTM.

There was one red flag in the 30-minute session which came with 12 minutes left when one of the TC competitors stopped off track before the carousel. The session resumed after a five minute delay.

The first GTS race of the weekend is this afternoon starting at 5:45 p.m. CT with live coverage available at world-challenge.com and Motor Trend onDemand.

RESULTS: Qualifying