Tandy Puts Porsche on Pole for Oak Tree Grand Prix at VIR

Nick Tandy and co-driver Patrick Pilet proved at the last race that it really doesn’t matter where their No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR starts. After the engine sputtered during practice at Road America in Wisconsin, the team changed it before the race. The rules state that if you change the engine, you must start in the rear of the field.

So they did, and drove to the front, taking the GT Le Mans class victory, followed by their teammates, Joerg Bergmeister and Earl Bamber, in the No. 912 Porsche.

Sunday, Tandy and Pilet start where they finished the last race – up front. Tandy qualified the No. 911 on the pole for the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway. The duo will be looking for their third straight TUDOR United SportsCar Championship victory, a streak that began at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in July.

Tandy, who also qualified on the pole at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, said given a choice, he’d definitely prefer starting up front. “It does make the start much simpler," he said. “You can dictate where you start the race. Theoretically, it will make for a simpler race than last time, although that was quite a good one."

Since the GT Le Mans class, along with the GT Daytona cars, are the featured classes this weekend since the Prototype and Prototype Challenge cars are taking the weekend off, it will give Tandy a chance to race for the overall victory. The last time he did that was earlier this summer – when he was on the winning Porsche team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“It means a lot," he said, “when the checkered flag falls on your car," instead of on the faster Prototype cars in front of you.

Also helpful: The second-quickest qualifier was the No. 912 team Porsche, driven by Bergmeister. Tandy’s best lap was 1 minute, 42.532 seconds, while Bergmeister was right behind him with a lap of 1:42.629. Third was the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia of Pierre Kaffer, with a lap of 1:43.122.

Despite the speed of his Porsche, Tandy is cautionary. “This is Saturday. On Sunday, it could be a different story."

In the GT Daytona class, Dion von Moltke scored his third pole of the year in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Audi R8 LMS he shares with Christopher Haase. The team has run well all season, and is in contention for the points championship, but they are still chasing their first victory of the year. Von Moltke said getting a win is important, but they’ll have to play Sunday’s race strategy with points in mind. “We’ll see if we can really fight for the win," he said, “or focus on the championship."

It is expected to be sunny and hot on Sunday, much like the conditions during Saturday’s qualifying. The hot track slowed lap times compared to practice earlier in cooler weather, “and it was really, really greasy out there," on Moltke said.

Von Moltke’s fastest lap was 1:49.255, with Patrick Lindsey a close second with a lap of 1:49.265. Lindsey drives the No. 73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT America, with co-driver Spencer Pumpelly, who won the Street Tuner class race earlier in the day in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Third behind the Park Place car was the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia of Bill Sweedler with a lap of 1:49.512.

The only incident during qualifying was a brief off-track excursion by GT Daytona points leader Christina Nielsen in the No. 007 TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage. Damage was minor, and she had qualified fifth fastest before her spin.

The Oak Tree Grand Prix at VIR, Round 10 of the TUDOR Championship, takes the green flag at 1:05 p.m. ET. Live coverage on FOX Sports 1 begins at 1 p.m. IMSA.com and the IMSA mobile app will have live streaming, live timing and scoring, and IMSA Radio’s play-by-play.