Tudor USCC: Von Moltke and Tandy on pole for Oak Tree Grand Prix

Prototype classes took a well deserved race for an event which featured GT classes only. It was Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway. The qualifying session began 4:40PM local time with GT Daytona class cars on track. Dion Von Moltke was the first to take the lead in his Audi R8 LMS Ultra and the time was 2:00.017. However, Ian James soon topped him with 1:53.731, as well as many other drivers, dropping Von Moltke to sixth. Dion returned to the lead with 1:49.989 and seconds later, Christina Nielsen slid off track in her #007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage. Von Moltke improved to 1:49.479 and was followed by Patrick Lindsey who did 1:49.751 and Viper driver Ben Keating with 1:49.837. Later improvements were made again with Dion Von Moltke doing 1:49.255 and Patrick Lindsey who lapped VIR in 1:49.378. Lindsey improved too with 1:49.512, but that wasn’t enough since Bill Sweedler got to third in his Ferrari 458 with 1:49.512. Dion Von Moltke won the pole with 1:49.255 and Lindsey was behind him at 1:49.265. Sweedler kept his third, and was followed by Ben Keating, Christina Nielsen, Ian James, John Potter, Cooper MacNeil, Michael Marsal and Ray Mason.

Minutes after, it was time for GT Le Mans cars to battle for their positions. Oliver Gavin took the early lead in a Corvette C7.R with 1:56.270, but Jorg Bergmeister took the lead when the cars started setting more representative times. His lap time was 1:45.995, until Oliver Gavin returned to the lead with 1:45.102. Bergmeister retaliated with 1:43.427, setting the new record which was almost immediately broken by Nick Tandy with 1:43.245. Bergmeister returned to the lead with 1:42.981, but it was Tandy’s turn to top his time with 1:42.532. There were no significant improvements until the end of the session, so Nick Tandy won the pole. He was followed by Bergmeister in a Porsche too and Pierre Kaffer in the Ferrari. Behind them were two BMW Z4 drivers, Lucas Luhr and Bill Auberlen. Jan Magnussen was sixth, Oliver Gavin was on seventh, and eighth and last was Bryan Sellers.