Nissans Take 1-2 In GS Qualifying For Doran Racing

Subtitle:Jaeger Takes First TOTAL Pole Award At VIR

Looking to give Doran Racing its first victory in Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge competition, Brad Jaeger added a personal career first on Friday at VIRginia International Raceway, winning the TOTAL Pole Award in a front-row sweep for the team’s Nissan 370Zs.

Jaeger ran a track-record lap of one 1:58.029 (99.738 mph) in the No. 14 Nismo GT Academy Nissan 370Z co-driven by BJ Zacharias. He and teammate Nicolas Hammann will lead the Grand Sport (GS) field to the green flag for Saturday’s two-hour, 30-minute race at 1:25 p.m. ET, which will be steaming live on IMSA.com and the IMSA mobile app.

“It feels wonderful, absolutely amazing,” Jaeger said. “For me, personally, it’s been a while. I think the last pole I had was Sebring in 2006 when I was running Star Mazda. To finally be back and starting first, just feels unbelievable. I can’t thank the team and everyone that’s believed in me along this very long recovery. I feel proud that I can start first for everyone tomorrow.”

Hammann qualified second in the No. 41 Nismo GT Academy Nissan 370Z with a lap of 1:58.326 (99.488 mph).

Jade Buford was third in the No. 158 Multimatic Motorsport Ford Shelby GT350R-C co-driven by Austin Cindric, with a lap of 1:58.360 (99.459 mph). He will be joined on the second row by Hugh and Matt Plumb in the No. 13 The Billfish Foundation/Rum Bum Film & HD Studios/RumBumGear.com Porsche 911, 1:58.582 (99.273 mph).

Multimatic Motorsports withdrew the No. 15 Ford Shelby GT350R-C after the car was badly damaged in an incident during the opening practice session. The team will go to a backup car for Billy Johnson and Scott Maxwell for Saturday’s race, the No. 51 Ford Mustang Boss 302R.