First Qualifying Complete at IMS

Trofeo Pirelli. Benjamin Hites (The Collection) reclaimed his place at the head of the Trofeo Pirelli field, beating out Cooper MacNeil (Scuderia Corsa, Ferrari of Westlake) by two tenths of a second.  The Chilean driver desperately needed the strong result so that he can begin to renew his championship charge.  Martin Burrowes (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale) took the third starting position, finishing behind Cooper by only half of a tenth of a second.  The entire Trofeo Pirelli category was remarkably tight.  All eight cars in the category were only separated by seven tenths of a second.

Trofeo Pirelli AM. John Megrue (Ferrari of Long Island) took pole position, his first in the Trofeo Pirelli AM category, besting Neil Gehani (Continental Autosports) by fifteen hundredths of a second.  Despite the tight margins, both drivers maximized the potential of their Pirelli PZeros in the first few laps and felt no need to push beyond their fourth lap.  For third place finisher, Barry Zekelman, it was even faster, using only three laps to secure his third place starting position.  With times separated by three tenths of a second between first and third, a tight, competitive race is assured.

Coppa Shell. Mark Issa (Ferrari of Atlanta) claimed yet another pole position in the Coppa Shell category with a 1:27.399, beating out Dale Katechis (Miller Motorcars) by just over one tenth of a second.  The two were in a class of their own, beating out the rest of the Coppa Shell field by nine tenths of a second.  Leading the charge was Brian Davis (Ferrari of Palm Beach) in his 488 Challenge car, beating out Kevan Millstein (Ferrari of San Diego) by just eleven hundredths of a second.

Coppa Shell AM. Brad Horstmann (Foreign Cars Italia) took his first pole position in the series, using his Ferrari 488 Challenge car to good effect, beating out Ted Giovanis (Ferrari of Washington) by fifteen one-hundredths of a second.  The battle for pole was tightly fought, with both drivers taking at least seven laps in pursuit of a faster time.  The pair beat out Gianni Grilli (Ferrari of Quebec) who made use of his second timed lap to set a time that ended up good for third on the grid.