Fogarty grabs DP pole, Said the GT one in Montreal

Fogarty held nothing back to keep his consecutive pole record in a single season intact

Ricky Taylor said that Montreal would be the hardest pole to win and today he saw his nemesis stop his streak of recent Grand-Am Rolex Series poles. On Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Jon Fogarty laid down a hot lap at 1:32.999 (104.865 mph), bringing to a stop the six consecutive poles by Taylor this year. Driving the GAINSCO Bob Stallings Racing Chevrolet Riley, Fogarty saved his record of seven straight poles which he set in 2007.

Ricky has been doing an awesome job all season.

Jon Fogarty

Today, the GAINSCO driver grabbed another record as he has been the dominant qualifier over the past five events on the temporary 2.709 mile circuit as he secured his fourth pole at the venue. It was his second pole in 2011.

“The record is nice and everything, but it’s not what we come here to do,” Fogarty said. “I won’t disregard the fact that maybe I did feel a little bit of extra pressure. Ricky has been doing an awesome job all season, and they’ve been really tough to beat in qualifying.”

Taylor came up short of tying the record with his best time of 1:33.681 for the SunTrust Racing team. The driver of the No. 10 Chevrolet Dallara commented, “I don’t think I got quite as much out of the tries when they were at their best early in the session. Jon did a real good job today. Winning one pole is really satisfying for me. I’m just really happy I had that run of six.”

David Donohue was third fastest in the Action Express Racing’s Porsche Riley with a lap time of 1:34.082.

Boris Said earned the GT class pole with his flying lap of 1:42.217 in the Marsh Racing Whelen Engineering Corvette. His nearest rival for tomorrow’s win was Andrew Davis who battled it out with Said for the pole slot. It was Said’s back-to-back pole in Montreal and to top it off, it was the backup car after the primary one was destroyed at Watkins Glen last weekend. The duo actually traded the top spot four times. Davis’ best lap was a 1:42.530 in the Brumos Racing Porsche GT3.

“We have a long way to go to win the race, but it’s nice to have a small victory today,” commented Said, “This track requires so much commitment and trust that you’re not going to take the wall down.”

Said Davis on how close the right was in today’s qualifying, “I put down the best lap I could do, and I was pretty happy with it,” Davis said. “I thought I had them covered. Then the team came on the radio and told me I needed another three-tenths to catch Boris.”