ALTON, Virginia (August 23, 2025) – Paul Miller Racing will start from the heart of the battle in tomorrow’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway, after both BMW M4 GT3 entries secured top-three grid positions in a thrilling qualifying session.
In the No. 1 machine, Neil Verhagen delivered a stellar lap of 1:44.478 on his fifth tour of the 3.27-mile circuit. His effort was good enough for P2, just 0.045 seconds off pole position, placing the car on the front row for Sunday’s race.
Verhagen was pleased with the result, noting the competitiveness of the field and the importance of the team’s performance: “Qualifying is finished here at VIR, and P2 is a pretty good result. I think that’s probably the maximum we could have achieved today.
“It’s great for Paul Miller Racing to have both cars starting in the top three. I’m looking forward to tomorrow – if it’s anything like Road America, it should be a very exciting race. We’ll see what we can do.”
Not far behind, Dan Harper carried the flag for the No. 48 BMW, setting a time of 1:44.570 on his seventh lap. The effort placed the entry P3 on the grid, only 0.092 seconds behind the sister No. 1 car and 0.137 seconds adrift of the class leader.
Harper echoed the optimism after the session, emphasizing both the team’s strong pace and the outlook for Sunday’s race: “That was a good qualifying session. The car felt really strong, and with both cars starting second and third, it’s a great result for the team.
“These are important points again for the championship. Tomorrow looks like it will be hot and dry, so we’ll see what we can put together and hopefully fight for another strong result for Paul Miller Racing.”
Team Principal Mitchell Simmons added: “It’s a great result to be starting P2 and P3 at VIR this weekend. We came off the trailer strong, though not exactly where we wanted to be. Our engineers, Rapha and Lars, worked hard to get the cars into the window for a strong qualifying effort, and the drivers steered us in the right direction to get up to speed quickly.
“Neil and Dan both delivered mega laps without putting a wheel wrong, allowing us to capitalize on the hard work from the entire PMR crew. Hopefully, this sets us up for good points in the championship and puts us in a strong position to fight in the final two endurance rounds.”
Snow and the No. 1 crew will be looking to build on a strong record at Road America, where they finished second last year and claimed the GTD class win in 2023 – proof that this team knows how to race at the front when it counts.
Both Paul Miller Racing cars showed strong pace throughout qualifying. While the gap to the leading cars remains considerable, the team is confident and ready to push hard in the race.
Meanwhile, the paddock is alive with excitement as a massive crowd of fans gathers for the event. Paul Miller Racing enters race day with focused determination and high hopes to seize any opportunities.
The green flag for the Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America flies today at 2:10 PM ET (1:10 PM local time). Fans can stream the full race live on Peacock in the U.S., or globally via IMSA.tv and IMSA’s official YouTube channel.
