Davis Practice Time Earns Pole After SPEED GT Qualifying is Red-Flagged

After an incident during qualifying for Round One of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship caused the session to end under a red flag without any cars entering a fast lap, Brandon Davis, of Huntington Beach, Calif., was awarded the pole for Friday’s race based on Wednesday’s practice times. Defending SCCA SPEED GT Champion Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., will start second.

Shortly after the SCCA SPEED GT cars took to the 3.7-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway, the No. 06 Group A Wheels Chevrolet Corvette of Joey Scarallo, from Smithtown, N.Y., suffered an engine failure on the front straight. The car came to a stop just past the start-finish line with a trail of oil behind it. While course workers attempted to clean the course as quickly as possible, the remaining time allotted for the 20-minute session elapsed without any drivers entering a fast lap and series officials were forced to revert to Wednesday’s practice times to form the starting grid.

The No. 10 ACS/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang Cobra of Davis will therefore start Friday’s SCCA SPEED GT race from pole. Davis turned a lap of 2:10.382 (102.161 mph) in Wednesday’s afternoon practice session. With four years of SCCA SPEED Touring Car experience, but only two SCCA SPEED GT starts, Davis’ pole was a welcomed surprise.

“We weren’t sure what was going to happen,” Davis said. “We hadn’t done anything as far as a lap, so we were really hoping the session would get going again. But, they came over the radio and said ‘Congratulations, you’re on the pole’. It’s definitely a good feeling.

“I don’t know how fast we’re going to be in the race. The practice run yesterday was a mock qualifying run. I can’t run that pace in the race, but it will be pretty close. I don’t know how fast everyone else will be in the race. We’re going to have to wait and see. We’ll go 110 percent and see where we end up.”

Defending SCCA SPEED GT Champion Pobst will start alongside Davis in the No. 1 K-Pax Racing Porsche 911 GT3. Pobst turned a 2:10.712 (101.9903 mph) in Wednesday practice.

Michael McCann, of Canton, Ohio, will make his first race start in the No. 16 Remington Shaving Cadillac CTS-V from third, after recording a time of 2:10.852 (101.794 mph) in practice. His teammate, Andy Pilgrim, of Boca Raton, Fla., will start alongside in the No. 8 Remington Shaving Cadillac CTS-V. Pilgrim entered a time of 2:10.957 (101.712 mph) to earn the fourth spot on the grid.

Polesitter Brandon Davis’ dad and teammate Mike Davis, of Huntington Beach, Calif., completes the top five in the No. 11 ACS/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang Cobra, turning a 2:10.958 (101.712 mph).

Jeff Altenburg (Dodge Viper), Michael Galati (Porsche 911 GT3), Eric Curran (Chevrolet Corvette), Ritch Marziale (Dodge Viper) and Jason Daskalos (Dodge Viper) completed the top ten.

Round One of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship will begin with the series’ signature standing start at 4:40 p.m. (EDT). Live timing and notes are available at www.world-challenge.com.