Blomqvist Grabs Pole at CTMP

Words and images by Matthew Boyce

Tom Blomqvist has taken the pole for Sunday's Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, giving Acura a lock out of the front row for the race. The No. 60 Acura ARX-06 edged out the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor by 0.081 seconds. The sweep of top two spots in qualifying comes after the No. 10 Acura of Taylor was fastest in the early morning second practice session while the No. 60 Acura was second.

Starting third will be the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani followed by the second Cadillac V-Series.R of Chip Gannasi Racing driven by Sebastien Bourdais. Porsche struggled in qualifying on Saturday, managing starting positions of 5th, 8th and 9th in the GTP class. The No. 7 Porsche Penske GTP of Felipe Nasr will start 5th, while the team car of Mathieu Jaminet will start last in class. The highest starting BMW M Hybrid V8 of Augusto Farfus will roll off in sixth.

The GT class pole was claimed by the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth with a lap of 1:15.029. Hawksworth edged out the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Jules Gounon while the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Alex Riberas will line up in third. The first GTD entry, who will start fourth in the GT combined classes, will be the No. 27 Aston Martin of Roman De Angelis who barely edged out the second Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo for the GTD class pole. The No. 3 Corvette Racing C8.R GTD will roll off fifth overall in the GT classes.

The LMP3 class pole was taken by Gar Robinson in the No. 74 Riley Ligier JS P320 Nissan. His lap of 1:12.946 was four tenths clear of the No. 13 AWA Duqueine D08.

With live coverage on NBC, the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park gets underway Sunday at 12 p.m. EDT.