Ellis, Foley Claim Sebring Poles

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Philip Ellis and Robby Foley have claimed overall pole positions for this weekend’s pair of GT World Challenge America powered by AWS races at Sebring International Raceway.

Ellis, in the Pro-Am class No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, reeled off a best lap of 1:59.839 to edge out the Pro class pole-winning No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Kenton Koch by 0.145 seconds.

The Swiss driver, who remains undefeated in qualifying so far this season, and Koch were the only drivers to dip below the 2:00 lap time barrier in Q1.

Alex Sedgwick qualified third overall and second in Pro in the No. 18 RS1 Porsche, followed by Michai Stephens in the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG.

Blake McDonald was fifth overall and second in Pro-Am in the No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, who was quicker than Bill Auberlen in the No. 51 Random Vandals BMW.

The No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW of Justin Rothberg will start Race 1 from seventh, with Scott Dollahite recording a season-best eighth place overall run in the Am class No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3.

There was late session drama for the No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG of Jason Daskalos, who suffered a left-rear puncture after clipping a curb, and limped his Pro-Am class entry back to the pits.

Q2 saw a red flag with five minutes completed the 15-minute session for Dollahite’s co-driver Stefano Gattuso stopping on track with a loose left-rear wheel, which left less than seven minutes of run time when the session resumed.

Foley, meanwhile, reeled off a qualifying-best lap of 1:59.478 to edge out the No. 11 DXDT Corvette of Matt Bell by 0.317 seconds, with Connor De Phillippi qualifying third overall and was quickest in Pro in the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW.

It came despite the BMW factory driver carrying 26 kg of additional ballast for Rothberg’s driver derogation this weekend.

Jan Heylen and Mikael Grenier completed the overall top-five for Race 2.

Race 1 gets underway at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube and Twitch channels as well as on MAVTV, with Race 2 set for Sunday at 1:45 p.m.

RESULTS: Qualifying 1/Qualifying 2