AO Racing’s PJ Hyett won the pole Saturday (July 13) for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with a lap at 127.223 mph. It is Hyett’s third class pole of the year, but his first-ever overall pole.
Hyett won the pole by .090 seconds over United Autosports’ Dan Goldburg. Riley Motorsports’ Gar Robinson will start third, then Inter Europol Competition by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports’ Nick Boulle. TDS Racing’s Steven Thomas was fifth.
Early on in the session, Thomas was fastest in his No. 11 before being beaten by Goldburg and CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s George Kurtz.
Four minutes into the session, High Class Racing’s Dennis Andersen spun his ORECA 07-Gibson and hit the tires in turn 2 to bring out the red flag. Andersen was ok, but previous time was taken away from the teams to set times.
Once the session resumed, teams had a little over five minutes remaining. Everyone had to go quickly.
Robinson was able to eclipse Goldburg on his first lap out of the pits. A lap later, Hyett set the lap that ultimately won the pole.
With a minute to go, Richard Mille AF Corse’s Luis Perez Companc went off-course in turn 3 and hit the tire barrier. That brought out a second red flag to end the session.
Perez Companc was ok, but the banding that fronts the tires went over the top of the car. As a result, it took a while to get Perez Companc out of the car, but he walked away.
IMSA put 72 seconds back on the clock after Perez Companc’s crash in order to get the minimum of 10 minutes under green in the session. It wasn’t enough for anyone to get out of the pits to start another quick lap before time expired. If the time was not added on, then all the times for LMP2 would have been thrown out and IMSA would have used “other means to set the field,” meaning points.
The GT portion of qualifying started with an immediate red flag. Conquest Racing’s Manny Franco stalled his Ferrari at the exit of the pit lane with a mechanical issue. That cut a third of the session out up front.
In GTD Pro, AO Racing’s Sebastian Priaulx was fastest early on in his Porsche, but he was usurped by The Heart of Racing’s Mario Farnbacher and Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth.
Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Alexander Sims put his Corvette on top with a lap at 118.976 mph. The rest of the field took their shots at him, but could not beat it.
On his final lap, Sims set a lap at 119.027 mph to extend his lead and win the class pole, his first as a driver in WeatherTech competition. The margin was .267 seconds over Hawksworth. Tommy Milner will start third in the second Corvette Racing entry. Ford Multimatic Motorsports’s Harry Tincknell was fourth, then Paul Miller Racing’s Madison Snow.
In GTD, The Heart of Racing’s Spencer Pumpelly, driving in place of Marco Sorensen and Ian James (both drivers have FIA World Endurance Championship duties in Brazil), was fastest early. However, with four minutes to go, Vasser Sullivan’s Frankie Montecalvo took the class lead with four minutes to go with a lap at 117.938 mph.
Montecalvo’s lap, which was the third fastest lap of all GT drivers, held up to win the GTD pole.
Montecalvo’s lap was .332 seconds faster than Pumpelly. The lap will give Montecalvo a buffer of five GTD Pro cars between himself and Pumpelly on the start.
Turner Motorsport’s Patrick Gallagher qualified third in GTD in his BMW, followed by Korthoff/Preston Motorsports’ Mikael Grenier. Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe was fifth in his McLaren.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Grand Prix Qualifying Results
The Chevrolet Grand Prix is scheduled to go green at 11:05 a.m. ET Sunday morning. Coverage will begin at 11 a.m. ET on USA Network.
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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