DANVILLE, Va. — While TA point leader Chris Dyson captured TA pole in Saturday’s Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli qualifying at Virginia Int’l Raceway, it was 15-year-old Connor Zilisch who stole the headlines with a record-breaking run to lead TA2® qualifying.
Running in Trans-Am for the first time, Zilisch shattered the track record with a lap of 1:48.905 seconds to become the youngest pole winner in the history of the series.
A world-champion karter from Mooresville, N.C., Zilisch is making the jump from a 150-horsepower Spec Miata to a 500-horsepower TA2®. Prior to Friday’s testing – in which he turned the fastest lap – Zilisch had only one test day in a high-powered race car.
It was also only the second TA2 attempt for Nitro Motorsports and the No. 70 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang, which was driven by Joey Hand in Nashville.
“The track was amazing and there was plenty of grip out there,” said Zilisch. “The Nitro Motorsports guys set up my car perfectly, I was flying out there! Mike Skeen was my coach a few years back, and we stayed really good friends. It’s crazy that I finished ahead of him. I really don’t know how I did it. I am just amazed.
“I am not that experienced with this type of horsepower,” continued Zilisch. “I have to concentrate on not spinning the tires tomorrow. I know I will need to practice it, and be ready when it comes time out there.”
Second-fastest qualifier Rafa Matos, who enters Sunday’s race with a 40-point lead over third-fastest qualifier Skeen, ran 1:49.653-seconds in the No. 88 3-Dimensional Services Ford Mustang.
“We stole a few more points from Mike (Skeen) today,” Matos said. “We didn’t have anything for Connor (Zilisch) though. Congratulations to him, he was really quick today. Tomorrow we have to focus on getting a good start and keep Mike behind us so we can wrap up this championship. I really like VIR and we’ve had a lot of success here.”
Skeen, switching from a Camaro to a Dodge Challenger to carry his No. 1 Liqui-Moly/Turn 14 Distribution colors, ran a fast lap time of 1:49.767 seconds.
“There’s a lot of little things here and there that are different from the Camaro to the Challenger,” said Skeen. “But, the biggest differences are that I don’t have a lot of experience with setting this car up, and it tends to be a bit more loose. I really don’t know what to expect for the race. We have our work cut out for us tomorrow and will be working extra hard to keep position.”
Tyler Kicera, winner of the first race at VIR in 2020, was fourth in the No. 5 Silver Hare Racing Ford Mustang followed by Connor Mosack, winner of the most recent TA2 race at Watkins Glen International in the TeamSLR No. 28 Nic Taylor Chevrolet Camaro. Qualifying was delayed mid-session for an incident in the tire wall in Oak Tree turn for 15-year-old Evan Slater in the No. 12 Cube 3 Camaro. He was unscathed by the incident and wound up 15th in the session.