ALTON, Va. (August 27, 2022) – Rookie Aidan Fassnacht (No. 15 McCumbee McAleer Racing) earned the pole position for Saturday’s Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich® Tires race at VIRginia International Raceway. It is the first pole position of Fassnacht’s racing career. He will share the front row with teammate Matthew Dirks (No. 76 McCumbee McAleer Racing).

Fassnacht has already won his first Mazda MX-5 Cup race at Watkins Glen in June, but he can now add first pole position to his resume. The rookie even had the second-fastest lap of the qualifying session, earning him the pole for Sunday’s race as well.  

It was a remarkable comeback for Fassnacht after ending Friday in the tires at Turn 10 and being forced to put his backup car into service.

With $80,000 on offer from Mazda to the Rookie of the Year, the rebound could go a long way for Fassnacht, who is fifth in the provisional rookie standings ahead of Saturday’s race.

“You have to have a short memory and realize you still have a job to do,” Fassnacht said. “It’s bad to wreck a car in practice, that’s not something you can do at this level, but at the same time you have the whole weekend in front of you, so you have to double down and focus. MMR did a great job putting a backup car together and we got it done.”

Saturday’s Round 11 MX-5 Cup race at VIR goes green at 1pm ET with live coverage on RACER.com and IMSA.com/tvlive.