He scored his first Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America round win at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion, and now McElrea Racing’s Tom Sargent has scored his first series pole position.
The Australian set the fastest time in qualifying at Circuit of the Americas at 2 minutes, 6.808 seconds to oust recently crowned series champion and local Texan, Riley Dickinson.
JDX Racing’s Alex Sedgwick continued his impressive recent form to be third fastest ahead of Dickinson’s teammate Michael McCarthy for Kellymoss.
Seven teams filled the top ten positions on the Pro grid, with Baby Bull Racing’s Michael Cooper in fifth followed by Ryan Yardley (Topp Racing); Thomas Merrill (NOLASPORT); yesterday’s fastest car in practice, Travis Wiley; Jason Hart (MDK Motorsports) and Sargent’s McElrea Racing teammate, Bayley Hall.
“I’m absolutely over the moon to earn my first series pole here at COTA,” Sargent said.
“I haven’t had a pole all year, but we’ve been so, so close on so many occasions. So to finally get this this weekend, plus to do it at the Formula One round, and the last weekend for Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America, is really cool.
“The team’s been working so hard throughout the year, and this result at the last weekend proves that. It’s exciting to be off the front row for the race this afternoon, and we’ll see if we can convert to a win.”
While Efrin Castro has clinched the Rafa Racing Club Pro-am title, some new names shone brightly in qualifying, with Chris Bellomo scoring his first series pole – continuing his strong podium-scoring form from Rennsport Reunion.
Series newcomer Kayden Kelly was second fastest in the third NOLASPORT entry, with Castro in third.
“I was super happy with the results at Laguna, and we carried that over this weekend. My coach, Johannes van Overbeek, and I have been working hard, and things just really worked out well today in qualifying.
“I have raced here before, and I really enjoy it. It’s a fun, challenging track, and I’ve had some good results here in the past.”
The battle for the AM class is coming down to the wire at Circuit of the Americas. MDK Motorsports’ Scott Noble holds the points lead over team boss Mark Kvamme, and he extended that gap by a further two points after a hard-fought qualifying session.
“There is a lot on the line this weekend. Both Mark Kvamme and myself knew that getting pole could contribute to who wins the championship,” Noble said.
“He put down a good time, and I took a second set of tires and just beat him by 5/1000ths of a second. So that’s pretty close, and I’ll certainly be an exciting race.”
The Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America field will greet the green flag at Circuit of the Americas at the US Grand Prix at 2:10 pm today. Watch live at imsa.tv.
