McCumbee McAleer Racing’s Nate Cicero won the pole Saturday morning (Aug. 23) for the IMSA MIchelin Pilot Challenge Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix at VIRginia International Raceway with a lap at 104.657 mph. It is his third straight pole after winning the honors at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road America.
Cicero ended up .195 seconds ahead of Rennsport One’s Luca Mars. Ford Koch, who is making his series debut for Copeland Motorsports, will start third in his Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO 2. Czabok Simpson Motorsports’ Morgan Burkhard will start fourth, then Team TGM’s Paul Holton.
Once the warmup laps were complete, KohR Motorsport’s Nick Persing went to the top of the charts. He was quickly beaten by Holton.
Cicero didn’t waste any time putting down a quick lap. That lap was beaten by Mars. Cicero then bettered his time and put his Mustang back on pole. He then pulled into the pits and let the rest of the Grand Sport field try their best to beat him. No one was able to do so.
In TCR, qualifying seemed like it was more of the same from recent races.
Montreal Motorsports Group’s Louis-Phillippe Montour was fastest for most of the session and appeared to be on his way to another pole. However, right as time expired, Bryan Herta Autosport’s Bryson Morris set a lap at 102.416 mph to win the pole. The lap was good enough for 14th overall.
Morris ended up .019 seconds ahead of Victor Gonzalez Racing Team’s Eric Powell in his second race in the Cupra VZ TCR. Montour will start third, followed by Mason Filippi in the second BHA Hyundai. Precision Racing LA’s Celso Neto will start fifth.
One car, the Audi from Rockwell Autosport Development, did not set a time during the session. They will start at the rear of the field.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix Qualifying Results
The Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix is scheduled to go green at 2:20 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. The race will stream live on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock starting at 2:15 p.m. ET.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.