Ross Gunn wasn’t able to match his GTD-record pole time from 2021, but he still managed to score Heart of Racing’s first GTD PRO pole position of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIR with a 1m43.953s lap in the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage.
The time, good for a 113.24mph average around the 3.27-mile VIRginia International Raceway, was a relatively massive 0.714s ahead of Antonio Garcia’s best in the No. 3 Corvette.
Garcia will start alongside on the front row after turning a best time of 1m44.667s.
Garcia had an off in Turn 3 and made light contact with the tire wall, but was able to continue. Matt Campbell also had an off in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, getting Turn 10 a bit wrong and then sliding off in Turn 11 on his first attempt at a flyer, but managed to come back and set the third-quickest time of 1m44.719s.

Connor De Phillippi will start the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M4 in fourth, and Jack Hawksworth will start fifth in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F after being unable to repeat his sub-1m44s lap from this morning’s practice.

Ross Gunn has claimed top qualifying honors for Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway, in the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD Pro pole for The Heart of Racing and Aston Martin.

Gunn reeled off a quick lap of 1:43.953 in the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to edge out the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Antonio Garcia by 0.714 seconds.

Garcia’s lap came prior to a spin and light contact with the Turn 3 barriers with five minutes to go in the 15-minute session. It did not result in a red flag.
It marked Gunn’s first career WeatherTech Championship pole in the car he’ll share with Alex Riberas in the two-hour and 40-minute race.

Matt Campbell made a late-session improvement to third in the GTD Pro points-leading No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, ahead of the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M4 GT3 of Connor De Phillippi and the Jack Hawksworth-driven No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, which completed the top five overall and in category.


Here is how they will line up for Sunday's race after qualify was completed