Mason, Holbrook, Schwartz On TC, TCA, TCB Poles in Mixed Conditions at Brainerd

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BRAINERD, Minn. – Light misting and rain jumbled the times during qualifying for the Pirelli World Challenge Brainerd International Raceway brought to you by Kia, as Ray Mason (Touring Car), Shea Holbrook (Touring Car A), and Johan Schwartz (Touring Car B-Spec) captured Round 11 pole positions.TC/TCA ran its separate 12-minute session after the 12-minute TCB session, and track conditions changed to where the TC/TCA times were more than 20 seconds off the practice times following the rain. The grid will be set in TC-TCA-TCB order, even though Schwartz had the fastest time during this qualifying session.

Mason, of Blacklick, Ohio, set the fastest TC time of 2:03.683 in the No. 71 Grand Alarms Honda Civic Si. It’s Mason’s first career fastest qualifying in the series and comes in his first TC start of the season, after also driving Compass360 Racing’s No. 70 CTF.org/Touge Tuning/Racing4Research Subaru WRX-STi in two GTS weekends this season.

Teammate and C360R team principal Karl Thomson, of Toronto, will start second in the No. 72 CTF.org/Touge Tuning/Racing4Research Honda Civic Si with Fred Emich, of Denver, Col. in the No. 30 Emich Volkswagen Volkswagen Jetta GTI third.

Holbrook, of Groveland, Fla., No. 67 TRUECar/Lucas Oil/Radium Honda Civic Si, has her class leading seventh pole position of the season in TCA following a best time of 2:05.636.

Ernie Francis Jr., of Dania, Fla., in the No. 98 Breathless Performance Mazda MX-5 starts second with TCA points leader Jason Wolfe, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in the No. 36 Wolfe Trucking Kia Forte Koup set to line up third. Wolfe led Holbrook by 33 points (1141-1108) entering the weekend. 

Schwartz, of Denmark, has his second TCB pole position of the season in the No. 12 Promatex/ADA/Animas American Honda Honda Fit with a best time of 1:56.934, which ultimately ended as the best overall time in the session. Schwartz also scored the pole for Round 1 at Barber. 

First and second in the championship were next. Brian Price, of Middletown, Va., in the No. 51 Unlimited Racing/RP Performance Honda Fit qualified second ahead of Nathan Stacy, of Owasso, Okla., in the No. 14 MDG/Ford Racing Ford Fiesta.

Saturday’s Round 11 goes green at 4:45 p.m. CT and local time, with live streaming available on world-challengetv.com.