Taylor, O’Connell on COTA SprintX Race 1 Pole

Ricky Taylor narrowly edged Daniel Mancinelli to take the pole position for the Pirelli World Challenge SprintX Race 1 at Circuit of The Americas.

Taylor’s lap of 2:05.742 in the No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac ATS-V.R was a mere 0.021 seconds faster than Mancinelli fastest offering in the No. 31 TR3 Racing Ferrari 488 GT3.

Michael Cooper will start just behind his championship rival in third in the SprintX-leading No. 8 Cadillac, with Alvaro Parente turning in a strong drive to fourth in the No. 9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3.

Daniel Morad and CTMP Make-Up Race co-winner Patrick Long make up row three for CRP Racing and Wright Motorsports, respectively.

The GT Pro-Am pole went to Frankie Montecalvo and Ricardo Sanchez in the No. 75 Always Evolving Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 in 10th overall, just ahead of Race 1 winners James Sofronas and Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 14 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Henrique Cisneros and Peter Ludwig claimed the GT Am-Am class pole for MOMO/NGT Motorsports.

Conrad Grunewald and James Weiland took the GT Cup Am-Am pole while the GT Cup Pro-Am pole went to Yuki Harata and Alessandro Bressan. Craig Lyons and Kris Wilson will start on the GTS Am-Am pole, and Adam Merzon and Trent Hindman earned the top spot in GTS Pro-Am.

Race 1 is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT with live coverage available at World-Challenge.com. CBS Sports Network will air tape-delayed television coverage of the race at 3:30 p.m. ET on September 10th.

RESULTS: Qualifying