Corvette Scores First WeatherTech Championship Pole Since 2015 With Garcia In No. 3 C7.R For Mobil 1

For the first time since the 2015 Rolex 24 At Daytona, a Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R will start from the pole position in an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race in Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (live, FS1, 11 a.m. ET).

Spaniard Antonio Garcia did the honors for the Corvette squad, putting the velocity yellow No. 3 Corvette C7.R on the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class pole with a best lap of 1 minute, 15.198 seconds (117.7 mph). Oliver Gavin won the team’s last pole in qualifying for the 2015 season-opening Rolex 24.

It was Garcia’s first pole since the race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2014. Garcia and co-driver Jan Magnussen are going for their second Canadian Tire Motorsport Park victory together after winning previously in 2014. Magnussen owns a total of five victories at CTMP.

“It’s always important to be up front and luckily to be competitive again,” Garcia said. “The car felt pretty decent all year long, but at some points we were lacking some speed. We seem to like this track a lot. It suits Corvette Racing. We are always competitive here. I think I won two years ago with Jan and a podium last year. Luckily in qualifying, we were able to beat the Ford. We know it’s a three-hour race and everything can change. Track position is really important here.”

Joining Garcia on the front row will be 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE Pro winner Dirk Mueller, who qualified the No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT second in GTLM with a best lap of 1:15.236 (117.6 mph). While they won Le Mans, Mueller and co-driver Joey Hand are still looking for their first WeatherTech Championship victory this season.

Richard Westbrook, who carries a two-race GTLM winning streak into tomorrow’s race alongside co-driver Ryan Briscoe, qualified third in the No. 67 Ford GT. Westbrook turned a best lap of 1:15.430 (117.3 mph). Both Ford GTs were built by Multimatic Motorsports just a few miles from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Markham, Ontario.

The top seven in GTLM qualifying was covered by less than one second.

Riberas Puts No. 23 Porsche on GTD Pole for Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing

Brazilian driver Alex Riberas earned the second GT Daytona (GTD) class TOTAL Pole Award of his career and the 2016 WeatherTech Championship season in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R for Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing.

Riberas posted a best lap of 1 minute, 18.245 seconds (113.1 mph), putting him on the GTD pole for the first time since the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May. Riberas and co-driver Mario Farnbacher went on to win that race.

“We were not actually expecting to be in first place,” Riberas said. “We were struggling with the car this weekend. It was really tough considering we didn’t get a lot of track time under dry conditions. We got our heads around the car during Practice 3. Hopefully, we can still get a good car for tomorrow for the long distance and take care of the tires. Hopefully, it will be like (Mazda Raceway) Laguna (Seca) and we can go for the win.”

Andrew Davis qualified second in the No. 6 Stevenson Automotive Group Audi R8 LMS GT3 with a lap of 1:18.582 (112.6 mph). He and co-driver Robin Liddell head into Sunday’s race looking for their first GTD victory of the season.

Starting third on the GTD grid will be Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 16 Pertamina / Monster Energy Lamborghini Huracán GT3 for Change Racing. Pumpelly, who finished third in Street Tuner class in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race that preceded WeatherTech Championship qualifying, posted a best lap of 1:18.672 (112.5 mph). He and co-driver Corey Lewis look to bring Lamborghini its first WeatherTech Championship win in Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix.

The top nine in GTD qualifying were covered by less than a second.

• BMW took fourth and fifth on the GTLM grid with both cars qualifying within three tenths of a second of polesitter Antonio Garcia. Lucas Luhr qualified the No. 100 IHG Rewards Club BMW M6 GTLM fourth at 1:15.446 (117.3 mph), with BMW Team RLL teammate Bill Auberlen just behind in fifth. Auberlen turned in a best time of 1:15.501 (117.2 mph) in the No. 25 M6 GTLM.

• Five of the six participating manufacturers in GTD qualified within a second of Riberas’ GTD pole-winning Porsche. Bret Curtis put the No. 96 Spectra Resources / United Steel / Valspar Paint / IHG Rewards Club BMW M6 GT3 fourth on the class grid, while Ben Keating placed the No. 33 Viper Exchange.com / Cruising with the Monkey Dodge Viper GT3-R eighth on the GTD grid.

• GTD points co-leader Christina Nielsen will start 10th on the class grid in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3. Nielsen and co-driver Alessandro Balzan have won twice so far in 2016 – the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida in March and the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen last weekend – and are riding a streak of four consecutive podium results into the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix.

Sunday’s activities begin at 8 a.m. ET with a 20-minute warm-up session. The Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix begins shortly after 11 a.m. ET with live television coverage in the U.S. carried on FS1.

Contact:

nsiebens@imsa.com

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