CRP Racing’s Daniel Morad claimed overall pole for Round No. 4 of Pirelli World Challenge’s GT and GTA classes at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on Saturday morning (May 19). Wet conditions on the 2.459-mile road course kept the speeds down, but Morad set a time of 89.331 seconds (99.097 mph) to top the charts. Due to the rains, this was nearly 15 seconds slower than the best times in practice on Friday.
Morad’s time was a quarter of a second faster than PFAFF Motorsports’ Scott Hargrove in the No. 96 Porsche. Alegra Motorsports’ Michael Christensen was third quickest, followed by TR3 Racing’s Daniel Mancinelli, who was fastest overall in practice Friday. R. Ferri Motorsport’s Toni Vilander was fifth.
In GTA, TruSpeed AutoSport’s Parker Chase was fastest with a lap of 96.241 seconds (91.982 mph), good enough for fourth overall. That lap was over 2.5 seconds faster than Dream Racing Motorsport’s Yuki Harata. Squadra Corse Garage Italia’s Martin Fuentes was third quickest.
The entry for the weekend is very thin with only 10 cars between the two classes. Only the top four overall qualified within 107 percent of Morad’s time. Normally, this would cause some consternation on the part of the officials. However, everyone was within 107 percent of their classes’ quick time on Friday, so all 10 cars will start.
The rain is forecast to continue all day at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. There is a possibility that the race could be scrubbed entirely. If that were to come to pass, it would not be the first time. Last year when CTMP hosted a SprintX weekend, the second race of the weekend was cancelled due to rain. It was made up at Circuit of the Americas in September.
Weather permitting, GT/GTA Race No. 1 is scheduled to go green at 1:55 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The race will be streamed live at World-Challenge.com.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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