Koch, Foley Claim VIR Poles

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Kenton Koch and Robby Foley will start the pair of Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS races from overall poles at Virginia International Raceway.

Koch, in his series debut, reeled off a 1:44.969 lap time in the Pr class No. 9 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to edge out the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes of George Kurtz, who took pole in Pro-Am.

The No. 94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 of Chandler Hull will start Race 1 from third on the grid, followed by the No. 53 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Seth Lucas.

An accident by Scott Smithson in the No. 08 DXDT Racing Mercedes resulted in the scheduled 15-minute session ending three minutes early due to a red flag.

Smithson had initially qualified fifth overall prior to his crash that resulted in rear-end damage to the Pro-Am class Mercedes.

It delayed the start of Q2 by nearly ten minutes, which was led by Foley in the No. 096 Turner Motorsport BMW, thanks to a benchmark 1:43.174 time.

Foley’s time was more than four-tenths clear of the nearest competition, which was the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley entry of Colin Braun.

Braun’s quick lap came prior to having an off-course moment when he spun his Mercedes into the barriers, although was able to drive away.

Mario Farnbacher claimed the Pro class pole for Race 2, having set the third quickest time overall in the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, which rebounded from an accident earlier in the weekend from co-driver Ashton Harrison.

Race 1 gets underway at 3:10 p.m. EDT with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube page. The second round of the weekend is set for Sunday at 2:15 p.m., meanwhile.

RESULTS: Qualifying 1/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