AMG GT Sweeps Pirelli World Challenge Race in Virginia
Mercedes-AMG GT3 and GT4 came out on top at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) for two qualifying classes.
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams swept the front rows in both the GT and GTS classes for the Pirelli World Challenge SprintX races at VIR on April 27 to 29. CRP Racing and Lone Star Racing gave the Mercedes-AMG GT3 its first front-row sweep in the North American competition after going one-two in GT-class qualifications. In GTS, Robinson Racing and Murillo Racing combined to give the Mercedes-AMG GT4 its first pole and first one-two qualifying result in the car’s debut season of North American competition.
Daniel Morad won the GT pole in the No. 2 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 after a final-lap flyer just edged the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Mike Skeen by .088 of a second.
Dueling AMG GTs at VIR
“We are pretty excited. The Lone Star Racing guys have been working very hard and we are thrilled to be able to put two Mercedes-AMG GT3’s on the front row,” said Skeen. “We had a shot at the pole position, I think we could have pulled out another tenth-of-a-second or two, but we eventually got to the point where we didn’t have enough fuel left to do any more laps. It was a little frustrating, but the car feels great and I think we have a good Mercedes-AMG GT3 to go into the race with.”
Skeen appeared to have his second-straight 2018 Pirelli World Challenge pole locked up with a lap time of 1:42.041 only to have Morad take the pole with a time of 1:41.953 on his seventh and final lap of the 20-minute qualifying session.
Morad and Skeen will lead the Pirelli World Challenge GT field to the green flag in today’s first of two one-hour SprintX races, which is scheduled to start at 1:25 p.m. EDT and can be seen live at here.
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 is now a perfect two-for-two in Pirelli World Challenge SprintX qualifying this season. Skeen, who co-drives with Scott Heckert, won the pole in the Lone Star Racing No. 80 in last month’s season-opening doubleheader at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
Going for Broke
Morad, co-driving this weekend with Fabian Schiller, is seeking a repeat victory at VIR after winning the Sunday round in last year’s Pirelli World Challenge SprintX event in his debut in the No. 2 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
“I am so happy with that lap. It is probably one of the best laps of my life that I have ever done,” said Morad. “The Mercedes-AMG GT3 was just perfect today. We made a setup change just before qualifying based on the conditions. We knew the pace was going to be really high today, we took a risk and it really paid off. It’s the best place in the house to start, and we will see if we can repeat last year.”
In GTS, veteran sports car driver Shane Lewis drove the No. 74 Robinson Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 to the class pole position with a top lap time of 1:53.396. He will be joined on the front row by Matt Fassnacht who qualified second with a lap time of 1:53.783 in just his second race in the No. 34 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Lewis co-drives with Gar Robinson and Fassnacht shares the No. 34 with Christian Szymczak.
The front-row sweeps are the first for both the Mercedes-AMG GT3 in North America since Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing began competing in both the Pirelli World Challenge and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series last year.
The Mercedes-AMG GT4 program was added to Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing in North America just this year in both Pirelli World Challenge GTS and the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge GS class. This pole and front-row sweep came in just the fifth North American weekend of competition for the Mercedes-AMG GT4 after two races in each of the series earlier in 2018.