Coming off a win at the Road America 120 just three weeks ago alongside co-driver Dean Martin, Jack Roush Jr. will lead the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge field to green in tomorrow’s race at VIRginia International Raceway, after Roush set a track record to claim the TOTAL Pole Award in the Grand Sport (GS) class.
Driving the No. 59 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang, Roush posted his fastest lap at one minute, 54.621 seconds around the 3.27-mile circuit. The previous track record of one minute, 56.929 seconds was set by Sebastien Landy in an Aston Martin Vantage last year.
“This is the place I really started road racing in what was then GRAND-AM, and now IMSA,” Roush said. “It’s a pretty cool place and it’s great to be back. The GT4 is amazing here. It really is unlike any other previous generation racing Mustang that I’ve driven. It’s very well engineered, much more advanced technology. It’s a true production race car built out of a production chassis.”
The pole marks Roush’s fourth of his career and first of the season, and Ford’s 45th pole in the series.
Roush and Martin head into tomorrow’s Biscuitville Grand Prix looking to add to their two wins thus far in 2017 but will face stiff competition in the rest of the Grand Sport (GS) class field.
Matt Bell in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R posted a lap just .351 seconds behind that of Roush’s to round out the front row. Point leader Dillon Machavern will start third in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche Cayman GT4 MR, while Canadian Chris Green will start fourth in their No. 69 Motorsports In Action McLaren GT4.
Clay Nabs ST TOTAL Pole Award at Home Track
What better way to start a home track weekend than with a pole position?
James Clay a Blacksburg, Virginia, native, posted a Street Tuner (ST) class record-setting and TOTAL Pole Award-winning lap of two minutes, 3.584 seconds on Friday evening in the No. 84 BimmerWorld Racing BMW 328i. The previous track record was set by Kevin Boehm last year with a time of two minutes, 4.66 seconds in a Honda Civic Si.
The pole is Clay’s second consecutive in the Continental Tire Challenge, after capturing the pole at Road America earlier this month, and the fourth of his career.
“Our home track at VIR, the sun setting and the lights low and it’s just this amazing track out here,” he said. “It’s just so beautiful and what a perfect day to put down a good lap. I wouldn’t call it a perfect, it was a good one.”
Alongside Clay will be Sarah Cattaneo in the No. 44 CRG I-Do-Borrow Nissan Altima. Cattaneo held the pole position until Clay swiped the spot in the last minute of qualifying.
A pair of Murillo Racing Porsche Caymans will start third and fourth, the former being the No. 34 of Christian Szymczak and the latter being the point leader, Jeff Mosing, in the No. 56. Road America winner Chad McCumbee rounds out the top five in the No. 25 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5.
Tomorrow’s Biscuitville Grand Prix, Round 8 of the Continental Tire Challenge, goes green at 2:10 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on IMSA.com.
Source : imsa.com
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