For a guy who was supposed to have a weekend off, BMW’s Joey Hand had a pretty good day by scoring the GT pole at Circuit of The Americas today.

With Maxime Martine on duty in the Blancpain Series at the Nurburgring in Germany this weekend, Hand was called back into the BMW squad on a scheduled “off” weekend for him between two DTM weekends.

Hand held off Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia by .264 of a second to score the pole in wet conditions in Austin.

“Considering I was supposed to be floating around my pool here, this is a great day for me,” Hand said.

“I’m subbing for Maxime Martin who is doing the Blancpain Series finale in Europe. The difference for me is being in the black car. I know all the guys, I’ve been here a long time, different engineer, but I know the team. It’s nice to be back with Bill Auberlen, we joked that we’re putting the band back together.

“For sure we’re not the quickest car in the dry, but in the wet we were sure fast. We tried to put the big one in the first lap. With the way the tires work, no one can really go faster after the first lap. I’m excited to be back, driving with Bobby Rahal’s team, and get the pole for the record books.

“This was the first time I’ve driven Michelin wets, and it really fits me well, my driving style. We had a lot of traction and we could charge the essess, driving in as deep as you can get it. Keep trying to peel off speed and keep digging.”