For Michelin GT Challenge At VIRginia International Raceway
Magnussen Edges Championship-Leading Teammate Milner For Pole
Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R stole the spotlight from its championship-leading teammate Saturday at VIRginia International Raceway, with Jan Magnussen winning the pole position in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying for Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge (live, FS1, 1:30 p.m. ET).
Magnussen ran a fast lap of 1:41.557 (115.9 mph) to lead a 1-2 sweep for Corvette Racing in the lead GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, which shares the event with the GT Daytona (GTD) competitors. It was the team’s second pole of the season, with co-driver Antonio Garcia leading qualifying at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
“We're the lead class here, so it’s an overall pole,” said Magnussen, whose other WeatherTech Championship pole was at Long Beach in 2014. “It’s so competitive up front that you need to get every hundredth [of a second] out of the car. It was a fantastic effort from the whole team. We had a great test (at Road Atlanta) at the beginning of the week, and we were able to use some of that stuff here. Now I can't wait until tomorrow.”
With the ambient temperature reaching 90 degrees, Virginian Tommy Milner was only 0.011 seconds behind his teammate with a lap of 1:41.568 (115.9 mph) in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R. Milner and co-driver Oliver Gavin currently lead the GTLM standings by 13 points, 264-251. The pair won four races this season, and are currently riding a two-race winning streak.
Joey Hand qualified third in the No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT co-driven by Dirk Mueller with a lap of 1:41.817 (115.6 mph). Hand will share the second row with Giancarlo Fisichella, who ran 1:42.225 (115.1 mph) in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE co-driven by Toni Vilander.
“It wasn’t easy to find the perfect lap today, qualifying is so tough,” said Fisichella, who won at VIR on a last-lap pass in 2014 and finished third last year. “Fourth place is good, that’s the maximum we could achieve today, but I hope for a better result tomorrow. I have good memories here.”
All nine GTLM qualifiers eclipsed Nick Tandy’s year-old track record of 1:42.532 (114.813 mph). Tandy and co-driver Patrick Pilet are looking to repeat in Porsche North America’s No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR. Tandy qualified seventh with a lap of 1:42.276 (115.1 mph).
