Justin Marks Earns Third Motul Pole Award of 2023 at Wet Mid-Ohio
June 23, 2023
Will Rodgers First in XGT, Lee Saunders Best in SGT, Billy Griffin Quickest in GT
LEXINGTON, Ohio (June 23, 2023) – Practice and qualifying are in the books for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Justin Marks in the No. 99 Trackhouse Chevrolet Camaro laid down the quickest lap in the wet following a rainy day at the Ohio venue. Marks earned his third Motul Pole Award of 2023 with a time of 1:45.340.
Multiple competitors in the various classes opted not to take a lap in the wet conditions.
“These are really hard conditions because they’re constantly changing,” said Marks. “The track can change up to two seconds from lap to lap when it mists or stops misting, so you have to attack at the right time, and you have to get a little bit lucky. It started to mist right as we were about to be released for qualifying. I was worried it was going to get heavier and heavier, so I attacked right away and tried to get the lap in. I still planned on staying out the whole time in case it did stop raining and the track started getting faster and drier. We did good today. It was not very comfortable in practice, and we talked a lot about what changes we were going to make. They made some really good changes and made me feel like I was in the car that I needed. I missed the test session yesterday, so if we have a dry race tomorrow, we’re going to end up guessing on our setup, but we’ll do it with enthusiasm.”
TA Qualifying Top Five:
1. Justin Marks, No. 99 Trackhouse Chevrolet Camaro (1:45.340)
2. Boris Said, No. 2 Weaver/Householder/Technique Dodge Challenger (1:47.782)
3. Chris Dyson, No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang (1:50.991)
4. Tomy Drissi, No. 8 Lucas Oil Ford Mustang (1:53.567)
5. Kerry Hitt, No. 22 Advanced Composite Products Inc. Chevrolet Camaro (1:54.682)
XGT Qualifying:
1. Will Rodgers, No. 32 Chris Evans Race Cars & Design Ford Mustang (1:51.024)
2. Danny Lowry, No. 42 Bennett/BridgeHaul/Pitboxes.com Mercedes AMG GT3 (2:14.706)
3. Chris Evans, No. 92 Central Welding Supply Ford Mustang (2:21.210)
SGT Qualifying:
1. Lee Saunders, No. 44 LandSearch LLC Dodge Viper (1:53.788)
2. Carey Grant, No. 6 Grant Racing 2 Porsche 991.1 GT3 Cup (2:07.171)
3. Milton Grant, No. 55 Springhill Suites/Sentry Self Storage Porsche 991.1 GT3 Cup (2:18.881)
4. Ricky Sanders, No. 18 BridgeHaul/Bennett/Pitboxes.com Porsche 991.1 GT3 Cup (No Time)
GT Qualifying:
1. Billy Griffin, No. 14 Griffin Auto Care/Sheehan’s Towing Ford Mustang (1:57.440)
2. Chris Coffey, No. 97 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GTA (2:00.827)
3. Jack Rinke, No. 12 Chevrolet Performance Turn Key Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro (No Time)
4. Michael Attaway, No. 91 Bennett/BridgeHaul/Pitboxes.com Audi R8 (No Time)
5. Todd Napieralski, No. 39 Chevrolet Performance/SKF/Turn Key Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro (No Time)
TAH Qualifying:
1. Wally Dallenbach, No. 4 Ultimate Headers Ford Mustang (No Time)
Full qualifying results can be found here.
TA Practice Top Five:
1. Matthew Brabham, No. 20 GYM WEED Ford Mustang (1:55.355)
2. Justin Marks, No. 99 Trackhouse Chevrolet Camaro (1:56.345)
3. Boris Said, No. 2 Weaver/Householder/Technique Dodge Challenger (2:04.701)
4. David Pintaric, No. 57 Kryderacing Ford Mustang (2:06.810)
5. Tomy Drissi, No. 8 Lucas Oil Ford Mustang (2:07.498)
XGT Practice:
1. Danny Lowry, No. 42 Bennett/BridgeHaul/Pitboxes.com Mercedes AMG GT3 (53.443)
SGT Practice:
1. Lee Saunders, No. 84 LandSearch LLC Dodge Viper (2:22.632)
GT Practice:
1. Chris Coffey, No. 97 Norwood Auto Italia/Traffic Grafix Maserati MC GTA (2:12.932)
2. Billy Griffin, No. 14 Griffin Auto Care/Sheehan’s Towing Ford Mustang (2:22.414)
Full practice results can be found here.
The TA/XGT/SGT/GT race will be contested on Saturday, June 24 at 1:10 p.m. ET and will be streamed live here. The TV broadcast of the race will air on MAVTV on Thursday, June 29 at 9:00 p.m. ET.
