Clarke manages remarkable pole for Inter Europol in IMSA CTMP qualifying

Credit: IMSA/LUMEN

Jeremy Clarke secured a stunning pole position in the No.43 Inter Europol Competition LMP2, setting a new track record with a sub 1:08 effort. Verhagen, Barrichello in pole position for GTD Pro, GTD.

Qualifying for the IMSA Canadian Tire Motorsport Park round proved to be quite the day for Inter Europol Competition's Jeremy Clarke who managed to secure the LMP2 pole with a new track record time of 1:17.904. Neil Verhagen topped the GTD Pro session, while Dudu Barrichello topped the GTD one.

As it happened

LMP2

As soon as the green flag was shown, the 10-car LMP2 field burst on to the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, trying to secure pole position and the important 35 points that go along with it.

After the first laps, the early benchmark was set by the No.99 AO Racing car of PJ Hyett with a 1:08.376, followed closely by the No.43 Inter Europol Competition car of Jeremy Clarke, who spent the next couple of minutes swapping first place between them, with Hyett provisionally on top with a 1:08.186. Another strong effort in that first part was one from the No.52 BHA with PR1/Mathiasen car of Misha Goikhberg, which ended up seperating them.

Hyett's time remained the fastest for a while, but the session heated up with less than two minutes to go, when Clarke set a 1:08.019 to go fastest, with Goikhberg coming ever so close to his time, setting a 1:08.077.

Clarke proved the session's master, with him managing to go even faster on his final run, setting the only sub 1:18 time, grabbing pole with a 1:17.904, with Goikhberg not improving but remaining second, ahead of Hyett in third.

GTD Pro

In GTD Pro, qualifying started with Nicky Catsburg in the No.4 Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette, setting the initial benchmark time of 1:14.829, after some early times in the range of the low 1:15's were set, with Jack Hawksworth in the No.14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus coming as close as half a tenth from it with less than four minutes to go.

Credit: Paul Miller Motorsports via Facebook

With three minutes to go, Neil Verhagen in the No.1 Paul Miller Racing BMW stunned the field, with a lap time of 1:14.382, four and a half tenths faster than Catsburg's time. Despite all attempts, no one managed to beat Verhagen's time, with Max Esterson in the No.59 RLL Team McLaren coming the closest, setting a 1:14.567 to secure second, only two thousands ahead of Alexander Sims in the No.3 Pratt Miller Corvette in third.

GTD

The first part of the GTD session belonged to the No.34 Conquest Racing Ferrari of Lorenzo Patrese, with the Italian having a chip on his shoulder, knowing that he would lose his fastest session time due to receiving a penalty after causing a red flag in first practice, a fate similar to that of the No.120 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Adam Adelson. Thus he went hard early on, being the first driver to drop below 1:17 and 1:16.

Afterwards though his time was bested by others, including eventual poleman Dudu Barichello in the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, who set a 1:15.130, who will lead the field on Sunday, trying to secure the team's first season win and extend their championship lead, despite carrying a five minute, imposed due to a torque sensor issue.

Second was the No.36 DXDT Racing Corvette of Mason Filippi with the No.12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus of Benjamin Pedersen in third.

Credit: The Heart of Racing via X

After the session the No.34 Conquest Racing Ferrari's day got worse, with Patrese losing his four fastest laps for ''failing to adhere with control of power parameters'', pushing it down the order to eighth.

The two hours and 40 minutes race on Sunday starts at 14:05.