Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli points leader Paul Menard, in the No. 31 Menards/Masterforce Tools Ford Mustang, was fastest overall on Friday and claimed his fourth pole of the season with a time of 1m13.255s at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park — the series’ first visit to the facility in 10 years.
“Traffic has been the name of the game in practice and the three test sessions,” said Menard. “There’s a lot of speed disparity, so you try to work on your car in segments. You get a clean segment, kind of work on what the car needs, get another clean segment, work on what the car needs again. In qualifying, I just had that one lap that would put it all together. We adjusted the car a lot throughout the weekend. It wasn’t very comfortable early on. We got it better, but it still was missing a little something. We found it after practice. We had a little hiccup that we fixed, and the car is really good right now.”
TA2 points leader Rafa Matos in the No. 60 Concord American Flagpole/Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang was fastest of the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series competitors with a best time of 1m18.327s, earning his third pole of the year.
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“My last time here at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was 20 years ago when I came and ran Star Mazda,” said Matos. “The track hasn’t changed much, so I had really good memories here. I had the pole position in that race, and I finished second, so hopefully my luck will change around tomorrow. We had speed all weekend long; we were just kind of chipping away and working with the setup, massaging the setup of the car, working with my teammates, making sure that every car is competitive. I knew I had the speed, I just had to put the lap together. I had a really good lap going in the last practice, but I just made a small mistake in the last corner and that cost me a couple tenths. I knew I had the speed and just needed to get it together, so I had everything in my head. I mentalized the lap and I was able to get it done.
“Big hats off to Nitro Motorsports, assembling the car and working with six cars this weekend. Thanks to Concord American Flag Pole for believing in this process, Chris Dyson, and every single person that has been involved with this program, directly and indirectly.”
The all-class race goes green Saturday at 2:15 p.m. ET. The race will be broadcast live on MAVTV and streamed live here. The highlights show of the race will air on MAVTV on Thursday, September 5 at 8:00 p.m. ET.