Danny Lowry First in XGT, Lee Saunders Best in SGT, Chris Coffey Quickest in GT
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (September 8, 2023) – Practice and qualifying are in the books for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli at Watkins Glen International. Justin Marks in the No. 99 Trackhouse/Jockey Chevrolet Camaro earned his fifth Motul Pole Award of the year with a time of 1:44.333. Marks kicked off the season with back-to-back poles at Sebring International Raceway and NOLA Motorsports Park, and this weekend is his third pole in a row after topping the speed charts at both Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America.
Boris Said in the No. 79 ECC/Anchor Bolt & Screw Dodge Challenger will start second in his 100th-career Trans Am Series race. Two-time champion and current points leader Chris Dyson in the No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang will start third.
“We’ve been fighting electrical gremlins all weekend, so qualifying was the first time we were able to make a lap of any kind,” said Marks. “These guys worked hard to replace the starter switch, the wiring harness, and to find a bunch of ways around a problem that was robbing power from the car. They worked really hard today. I just really didn’t get any laps, so I had to kind of go out there and remember my brake points and everything from last year. The car was pretty good, so we were able to get it on pole.”
TA Qualifying Top Five:
1. Justin Marks, No. 99 Trackhouse/Jockey Chevrolet Camaro (1:44.333)
2. Boris Said, No. 79 ECC/Anchor Bolt & Screw Dodge Challenger (1:45.155)
3. Chris Dyson, No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang (1:45.511)
4. Keith Grant, No. 40 Showtime Motorsports Chevrolet (1:45.880)
5. David Pintaric, No. 57 Kryderacing Ford Mustang (1:46.256)
XGT Qualifying:
1. Danny Lowry, No. 43 Bennett/BridgeHaul/Pitboxes.com Mercedes AMG GT3 (1:51.382)
2. Ricky Sanders, No. 18 BridgeHaul/Bennett Family of Companies Audi R8 LMS (1:53.928)
SGT Qualifying:
1. Lee Saunders, No. 84 LandSearch LLC Dodge Viper (1:55.127)
2. Josh Carlson, No. 36 Enseva/TC Fab/Diercks Ltd. Ford Mustang (1:59.608)
GT Qualifying:
1. Chris Coffey, No. 97 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GT4 (1:57.380)
2. Michael Saia, No. 13 KMC/Rabid Wraps/Rapid Perf. Mgmt. Porsche GT3 Cup 997.1 (1:58.153)
3. Michael Attaway, No. 91 Bennett/BridgeHaul/Pitboxes.com Audi R8 (2:02.963)
The TA/XGT/SGT/GT race will be contested on Saturday, September 9 at 11:30 a.m. ET. The race will be broadcast LIVE on MAVTV and streamed live here. The TV broadcast replay of the race will air on MAVTV on Thursday, September 14 at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Trans Am Series
