Braun Takes Hard-Fought CTMP Pole

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Colin Braun has scored CORE autosport’s first pole of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, in a hard-fought qualifying session Saturday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Braun, who topped the opening two practice sessions on Friday, reeled off a record-breaking 1:05.452 lap time in the No. 54 Nissan DPi to outpace the No. 7 Team Penske Acura ARX-05 of Helio Castroneves by 0.074 seconds.

Jonathan Bomarito made it three DPi manufacturers in the top-three, putting the No. 55 Team Joest Mazda RT24-P third on the grid.

It marked back-to-back poles at CTMP for Braun, whose LMP2 car was moved to the rear of the field last year due to a change of starting driver to team owner/driver Jon Bennett.

A decision on the team’s starting driver for tomorrow’s Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix has not yet been made.

Juan Pablo Montoya qualified fourth in the No. 6 Team Penske Acura DPi, with Tristan Nunez completing the top-five for Mazda.

Felipe Nasr was the quickest of the Cadillac DPi-V.Rs in sixth, more than six-tenths behind Braun’s pole-sitting time.

LMP2 class pole honors went to the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Kyle Masson, who edged out IMSA debutant Dalton Kellett.

The Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park gets underway Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT with live coverage on NBC.

RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John