The UAB Medicine GT World Alabama benefiting Teal Wings of Hope event continued at Barber Motorsports Park bright and early on Friday morning for the TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School qualifying session, where Jeff Ricca claimed yet another pole position in the No. 78 Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO.
Ricca wasted no time in setting the benchmark, putting down the first competitive lap of the session and immediately going to the top of the leaderboard. His 1:36.006 lap stood unbeaten through the closing stages, proving to be just out of reach for Jonathan Neudorf in the No. 4 JMF Motorsports Toyota GR Corolla TC, who claimed second just 0.250 seconds behind.
The battle for the front row was fierce. Eric Kunz, driving the No. 77 Ricca Autosport Hyundai, briefly jumped ahead of Neudorf to make it a one-two for the team, but Neudorf quickly struck back to reclaim second position. Kunz ultimately settled for third on the grid in the No. 77 Ricca Autosport Hyundai, ensuring a second-row start for this afternoon’s race.
In the final minutes of the session, Alana Carter moved into the top five, clocking the fourth-quickest time in the No. 74 Ricca Autosport Hyundai. Her teammate, PJ Groenke, rounded out the top five in the No. 76 Hyundai, making it four Ricca Autosport entries in the top five positions.
With only half a second separating the leading contenders, the stage is set for a thrilling showdown at Barber Motorsports Park later today for Race 1.
Let’s Get Racing
The TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School field will return to the track for Race 1 on Friday, September 5th at 12:10 PM CT.
If you can’t make it to Barber Motorsports Park, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTBHM.