Caldarelli puts Pfaff on IMSA pole at VIR

Following up on the Lamborghini Temerario GT3’s first official global victory at Road America, Pfaff Motorsports has scored the car’s first pole position in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

As Pfaff Motorsports counts down to the end of its final IMSA campaign, Andrea Caldarelli put the No. 9 Temerario on the pole for Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway.

A sensational lap of 1m44.773s from Caldarelli put the red and black plaid No. 9 Lamborghini on GTD Pro and overall pole by two-tenths of a second.

GTD Pro championship contender Nicky Catsburg qualified second in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R with a 1m44.924s, just 0.033s ahead of points leader Neil Verhagen in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Verhagen set a 1m44.810s a minute before the end of GTD Pro qualifying, but lost his fastest time for causing a red flag in Practice 1 yesterday, causing him to drop one position next to Max Esterson in the No. 59 RLL Team McLaren 720S GT3 on the second row.

Valentin Hasse-Clot qualified fifth in the No. 68 Car Blanche Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, ahead of Dennis Olsen in the No. 64 Ford Racing Mustang GT3 Evo in sixth, and title contender Harry King, who was seventh in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

After qualifying, Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi now lead Catsburg and Tommy Milner in the GTD Pro standings by 13 points, with King and Nick Tandy now 27 points back.

Near the end of what has been a frustrating season in GTD for DragonSpeed, Casper Stevenson put the No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette on pole for the first time in 2026. DragonSpeed won the GTD Pro and overall pole position for last year’s VIR race with its previous Ferrari 296 GT3.

His time of 1m45.188s was enough to hold off Lorenzo Patrese and the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo (1m45.246s) by only 0.058 seconds.

Eduardo Barrichello in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin appeared to have secured third place on the GTD starting grid, but two lap times in the low 1m45s range were deleted from the No. 27 Aston Martin’s ledger for failing to adhere to controlled powertrain parameters. That demoted Barrichello down to 11th place.

Therefore Russell Ward in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO will start third, sharing the second row with the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Danny Formal in fourth.

Two more title contenders share the third row with the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Patrick Gallagher in fifth, and Aaron Telitz in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 in sixth.

Mason Filippi qualified the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette, shared with Robert Wickens, and will start seventh in class.

Barrichello now leads Ward and Philip Ellis in the GTD standings by 26 points.

The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR goes green Sunday at 12:10 PM ET (local time), airing on NBC and Peacock in the United States, and in over 200 other countries on IMSA.tv and the official IMSA YouTube Channel.

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