Qualifying for the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park turned into a repeat of the second practice, with Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing fighting for the top spot and making Acura the star of the show. This time, however, it was Tom Blomqvist putting the No. 60 MSR ARX-06 on pole with a 1m5.653s lap, 0.081s ahead of Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 WTR ARX-06 as Acura locked out the front row. For Blomqvist, it was a repeat pole after setting a blistering record lap in qualifying for last year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.
“It’s always a hell of a commitment around here, regardless of what car you’re in,” Blomqvist stated. “When you put new tires and then take the fuel out, around here, your minimum speeds pick up drastically. This year the GTP car carries about 100 kilos of fuel, so it’s just night and day difference. When you take it for a qualy run, it’s such a good feeling. Last year was a lot more of a wild ride. We’ve got a good car this year, it’s a bit more forgiving; nonetheless, I wasn’t actually happy with my personal performance in that session, just a little bit messy from from my side. I wasn’t super happy with where I was on track. But I can’t complain, I’m still sitting here. It’s just testament to the job the team’s done in preparing the car.”
The second row will be the two Cadillac Racing V-Series.Rs, Pipo Derani qualifying third in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac at 1m5.829s. Sebastien Bourdais, after spending the first part of the session scrubbing the three set of tires allotted for qualifying and race, will start on the outside of the second row in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac.
“I think we did a good job from free practice two to qualifying,” said Derani, who with Alexander Sims is leading the GTP points and looking for their second win of the season. “The car was really good yesterday and we tried a couple of things that didn’t go as planned for practice two. We were able to turn the tables around again and come back to qualifying with a strong car. To be that close to the Acuras after what they displayed in practice two, I think it shows that we are on the right path. So, thanks to the team for providing me a good car. Starting on the second row is good, especially on a track that is difficult to pass.”
Gar Robinson posted a dominant qualifying time in LMP3, his 1m12.946s lap in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier more than 0.4s ahead of Orey Fidani in the No. 13 AWA Duqueine. Ari Balogh marked his return to the cockpit, having sat out the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen after a qualifying crash, by putting the the No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier third.
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Jack Hawksworth claimed the GTD Pro and overall GT pole in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, his second of the season after taking the top spot at Long Beach, where he and Ben Barnicoat went on to take victory. Hawksworth posted a new track record – beating his own GTD record from 2018 by half a second and Mathieu Jaminet’s GTD PRO mark from last year – with a 1m15.029s lap to beat Jules Gounon in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG by 0.074s.
“It’s been, obviously, a perfect start to the weekend so far,” said Hawksworth, who hasn’t raced at CTMP since 2018, having missed last year’s race due to a back injury. “The car’s always been strong here. If we have a track on the calendar that we have circled that we feel like we’ll be good at, this is that track. The minute we rolled off the car felt good, and we executed a good clean weekend so far.”
GTD PRO teams occupied the first three spots, as Alex Riberas put the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin vantage GT3 on the inside of the second row with a 1m15.341s lap. The rest of the GTD PRO cars will line up right behind Riberas — Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C8.R qualifying fifth overall and Mosport rookie Klaus Bachler in the hometown favorite Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R qualifying seventh.
It will be an all Heart of Racing second row for the GT start, as Canadian driver Roman De Angelis took the GTD pole, the second in his career, on home soil with a 1m15.478s lap. That lap will stand as a new GTD track record as De Angelis looks to repeat the victory Heart of Racing scored at CTMP last year when the team won both GTD and GTD PRO.
“I’ve definitely had a had a lot of weekends here over my racing career. My first time ever in a car was at the driver development track and also tons of racing here in Formula Ford and Carrera Cup,” De Angelis recounted. “Tons of track time here, so hopefully I would perform decently. It’s been difficult for the last few years to put qualifying together for myself, that’s definitely been my weak point. I tend to overdrive, so really focusing on the last few rounds trying to talk with my co drivers and stuff and figure out what I what I needed to change and it’s been good so far this year. So happy to to get a pole in general and obviously to do it at home was great, with my family and friends at a circuit that I really enjoy being at.”
De Angelis will have a small buffer to the second-place GTD qualifier at the start, as Frankie Montecalvo (1m15.058) will be starting the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus directly behind him – Jordan Taylor qualified between them – and Madison Snow will line up behind on the outside of the fourth row, having qualified the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 third in GTD with a 1m15.595s lap. Mikael Grenier (No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG) and Patrick Gallagher (No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3) completed the top five in GTD qualifying.
Up next: A 20 minute warmup session takes place at 8:15 a.m. ET Sunday, ahead of a 12:05 p.m. race start.