Starting on pole for Saturday afternoon's first race of the weekend for the GT, GTA and GT Cup classes will be Renger van der Zande. Starting from the head of the GTA and GT Cup grids will be Frankie Montecalvo and Colin Thompson.

The qualifying session for Saturday afternoon's race saw 75 degree temperatures and clear skies, and began with the GTA and GT Cup classes taking to the track to decide their starting grids first.

Six minutes into the GT/GTA Cup segment, though, Race Control put out the red flag for a car stopped at Turn 2. The green flag waved again with just eight minutes to go in the opening segment of the qualifying session.

Martin Fuentes put the No. 07 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia on top with a 1:35.004. Points leader Montecalvo, driver of the No. 66 DragonSpeed Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 then went to the top himself with a lap of 1:34.843 - he then bettered his time on the very next lap to a 1:34.092; this time stood strong and earned Montecalvo pole for Saturday afternoon's race.

In GT Cup, Thompson earned his 14th pole position of the 2015 season as he completed the 12-turn Sonoma Raceway circuit with a best lap of 1:38.727 in the No. 11 Porsche of Bucks County car.

Next on track was the GT class.

Early in the GT segment, van der Zande put the No. 31 EFFORT Racing Porsche 911 GT3R on top with a lap of 1:33.095. He was followed then by Kevin Estre who turned a 1:33.216 in the No. 9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3. These two remained in these exact positions with the same lap times and will start from the two frontmost spots of the grid for Saturday afternoon's race.

Contenders in the GT championship Johnny O'Connell of the No. 3 Cadillac Racing entry and Olivier Beretta of the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari will start fifth and seventh on the grid, respectively, in the race.

Van der Zande's polesitting time bests the previous GT qualifying lap record at Sonoma which was owned by Mike Skeen who lapped a 1:33.167 in an Audi R8 Ultra last season.

Race 1 of the weekend for the GT, GTA and GT Cup classes is set for Saturday at 7:35 pm ET.

Follow @VAVELSportsCar on Twitter for continued coverage of the Pirelli World Challenge weekend from Sonoma Raceway.

Aaron Durant is the editor of the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @DoubleA291.