Gottsacker on GTS Pole at COTA

Photo: Racers Edge Motorsports

Harry Gottsacker will start this afternoon’s Pirelli World Challenge GTS SprintX round from the pole after storming to the top spot in qualifying at Circuit of The Americas.

Gottsacker took his No. 69 Racers Edge Motorsports SIN R1 GT4 to a best lap of 2:17.527, edging out the No. 55 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Scott Maxwell by 0.213 seconds.

Both cars are carrying weight penalties, equivalent to 2.5 percent of the car’s base weight, due to their driver lineups this weekend.

Gottsacker, a Silver-rated driver is racing solo, while Maxwell, a former professional who has now been rated Bronze by PWC, will team up with Silver-rated Jade Buford in the Mustang GT4.

The No. 06 Rearden Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Vesko Kozarov qualified third, quickest of the GTS Am competitors, ahead of Dean Martin’s No. 52 KohR Motorsports Mustang GT4, which now features a two-driver lineup.

Nate Stacy was originally nominated to drive solo this weekend until the team owner/driver was brought on board to share driving duties.

The No. 34 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG of Matt Fassnacht completed the top-five in qualifying, with the top-seven GTS cars seperate by less than one-second.

Race 1 for GTS SprintX competitors gets underway at 1:20 p.m. CT, with live coverage on World-Challenge.com.

RESULTS: Qualifying

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