Hernandez smashes track record to secure GT Challenge pole

Juan Diego Hernandez set a new overall track record at the South Dakota Circuit as the number four NACent Racing entry secured pole position for the opening race of the GT Challenge de las Americas – Guyana Grand Prix.
Hernandez, driving the McLaren 720 GT3 X in the GTS Turbo class, produced a blistering lap of one minute, 10.397 seconds during Saturday’s Q3 shootout. He shares the car with Tatiana Calderon.
The Guatemalan driver lowered his own track record of 1:11.664, which he had established during Friday’s final practice session, by 1.267 seconds.
Solly Betesh and Luis Ramirez will start alongside the NACent Racing pair after qualifying second in the number 44 GTS car with a 1:10.528. Their time was only 0.131 seconds slower than Hernandez’s record lap.
Gustavo Ortega secured third position with 1:10.618, while Will Redford took fourth after clocking 1:11.256. Zachary Boodram completed the top five with 1:11.264, finishing only eight-thousandths of a second behind Redford.
William Martin was the fastest GTS Light driver in the final shootout, placing sixth overall with 1:12.420. Harry Foster followed in seventh with 1:12.760, while Ricardo Vera claimed eighth position with 1:13.485.
Guyanese driver Mark Vieira and Tommi Gore will start ninth and 10th, respectively. Both advanced to Q3 but did not record a time during the session.
Qualifying began with two preliminary sessions, with the combined results determining the 10 cars that advanced to Q3. The final shootout set positions one through 10, while places 11 to 21 were determined by the combined times from the first two sessions.
Marcos Vento will start 11th after recording 1:13.378 in the preliminary round. Alfredo Najri and Jimmy Libre qualified 12th in their V8 entry with 1:13.607, followed by Carlos Hernandez in 13th.
Guyanese drivers Calvin Ming and Ed Pead will start 14th and 15th, respectively, while Rameez Mohamed will line up 17th in the other GTS Turbo entry.
Danny Harrison was placed at the back of the 21-car field after his number 1300 car was found to be underweight and was disqualified from qualifying.
The starting order for Race One remains provisional and is subject to any further post-qualifying penalties.