Paul Miller Racing’s Madison Snow won the pole Saturday (Aug. 24) for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. It is Snow’s first pole of 2024.
“[The pole is] definitely a step in the right direction,” Snow said after the session. “The best we’ve done [this season has been standing] on the podium [at] the last race. We got the pole here. So we definitely have great momentum, heading towards the end of the season.”
Snow’s lap at 114.063 mph is a new GT track record at VIR. It was .140 seconds faster than Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Antonio Garcia. Ford Multimatic Motorsports teammates Harry Tincknell and Joey Hand will share the second row, while Tommy Milner in the second Corvette was fifth.
Given the all-out push that is required for a good lap at VIR, drivers chose to ease into the 15-minute session. There were no representative times in either class in the first third of the session.
In GTD Pro, the first quick laps were set by Milner and Tincknell. Shortly afterwards, the really quick laps showed up. Milner turned in a lap at 113.471 mph to put himself on top. Snow then usurped Milner to take the top spot.
Snow’s lap came with more than five minutes remaining in the session. He tried to improve, but was unable to do so.
The Heart of Racing’s Zacharie Robichon was fastest early on in GTD, but he was overtaken by Conquest Racing’s Manny Franco. Franco was more or less the first GTD driver on the track, so he was able to set the pace for the early portion of the session.
Franco was ultimately trumped by Proton Competition’s Giammarco Levorato. He first turned in a lap at 111.994 mph to take the lead. From there, he only continued to improve while battling for the class pole with Korthoff/Preston Motorsports’ Kenton Koch.
Eventually, Levorato set a lap at 113.301 mph with just over four minutes to go to put himself on the provisional pole. Other drivers tried to beat it, but no one could prevent Levorato from taking his first IMSA pole.
Levorato, who will start sixth overall, won the pole by .206 seconds over Koch. Wright Motorsports’ Elliott Skeer will start third in his Porsche, then Robichon. Turner Motorsport’s Patrick Gallagher starts fifth in class.
Surprises include Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth, who qualified sixth in GTD Pro (ninth overall). During the session, he went off the road at the Oak Tree Turn. He was nearly hit…
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