Late Hyett Flyer Secures CTMP Pole for AO Racing

PJ Hyett stormed to the overall and LMP2 class pole position for AO Racing during qualifying for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Chevrolet Grand Prix weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park after an improvement on his final flying lap.

The AO Racing driver reeled off a 1:08.888 benchmark time on his 12th and final attempt in the No. 99 ‘Spike’-liveried Oreca 07 Gibson as the checkered flag fell on the 15-minute qualifying session, despite the Tower Motorsports car of John Farano having been spun ahead of him on his way to begin the lap.

Hyett’s time aboard his and Dane Cameron’s AO machine was 0.098 seconds clear of Daniel Goldburg’s best effort in the No. 22 United Autosports entry and 0.291 seconds clear of TDS Racing’s Steven Thomas.

Despite a later spin and trip to pit lane, Jeremy Clarke laid down the fourth fastest LMP2 class time with CrowdStrike by APR’s George Kurtz rounding out the overall top five in his No. 04 Oreca.

Farano brought out local yellow flags after spinning and touching the barriers at Turn 10 following contact with the No. 2 United machine of Phil Fayer.

Fayer was swiftly handed a drive-through penalty for the incident responsibility with the Tower driver.

Clarke survived a spin at Turn 2, taking his No. 43 Inter Europol machine into pit lane after continuing on slowly from Turn 8 after setting his quick lap.

Verhagen, Hawksworth Secure GT Class Pole Positions

Paul Miller Racing’s Neil Verhagen will lead the pair of production-based classes to the green flag in Sunday’s two-hour and 40-minute contest after securing his first-ever WeatherTech Championship pole in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO after reeling off a 1:15.046 lap in his GTD Pro entry.

The pair of Lexus RC F GT3s continued their strong form from this weekend’s practice sessions, with Jack Hawksworth jumping to the top of the GTD times in the first of three separate class qualifying sessions aboard the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing machine he co-drives with Parker Thompson to secure the GTD pole and the Lexus GT3 car’s 30th pole position.

Hawksworth laid down a 1:15.101 lap on his sixth of nine total laps to set the second overall fastest time amongst GT3 competitors, but will lead the GTD class to green behind the field of GTD Pro cars, per the regulations.

Third-fastest of the GTs, but second-quickest in GTD Pro was the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan entry of Aaron Telitz, who was 0.263 seconds off Verhagen’s class pole-sitting benchmark.

The GTD points-leading Winward Racing crew will roll off the grid second in GTD, with Russell Ward’s best flying lap 0.218 seconds off of Hawksworth’s pole time.

The two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs of Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner were third and fourth-fastest, respectively, in GTD Pro, with the No. 48 Paul Miller BMW of Dan Harper rounding out the top five in class.

Robert Wickens set the third-quickest GTD time in his No. 36 DXDT Corvette ahead of Casper Stevenson’s No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo after the British team was stripped of its fastest qualifying time for causing a red flag in Practice 2 earlier this afternoon.

Despite temporary yellows for Farano’s spin after being tagged by Fayer, the three separate qualifying sessions ran uninterrupted.

The Chevrolet Grand Prix takes the green flag at 2:05 p.m. EST with live network coverage available on USA Network, live streaming coverage available on both Peacock and IMSA.tv, as well as free live streaming coverage available internationally on IMSA’s YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Qualifying