Green, Daniel Dodge Drops For Poles

Subtitle:Drivers Put In Fast Laps Just Before Downpour At CTMP

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario (May 15, 2015) – Chris Green and Jerimy Daniel made the most of short work Friday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, winning the Platinum and Gold Cup pole for the season-opening rounds of the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin.

Most drivers turned just one or two flying laps on the 10-turn, 2.459-mile circuit at CTMP during qualifying due to an incident and rain. Gold Cup driver Bruno Chapinotti nosed into the tire barrier in Turn 8, triggering a red flag halfway through the 30-minute session just as light sprinkles intensified into a steady rain.

Chapinotti was unhurt, but no drivers returned to the track after the incident. Series rules indicate all drivers must complete qualifying on the tires on which they started. The session started in dry conditions, so no drivers dared to tip-toe around the wet track on slick Michelin tires.

Green, from Montreal, won the Platinum Cup pole with a top lap of 1 minute, 20.204 seconds in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. He led the morning practice in dry conditions at 1:19.743.

“We had a little bit of a different game plan going in,” Green said of qualifying. “I was really slowed down after the crash because I was right behind the guy when he spun in front of me. So it kind of affected my overall lap time. But you know what? Do a quick lap time right away because you never know when there will be a caution or a red flag, so may as well be safe than sorry.”

Marco Cirone, from Toronto, was second overall and the leading Platinum Masters driver at 1:20.582 in the No. 88 Mark Motors Racing entry. Cirone is the two-time defending Platinum Masters champion in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned Single-Make Series.

Etienne Borgeat, from Montreal, was third overall at 1:20.939 in the No. 2 GT Racing Porsche. Series rookie Daniel Morad, from Thornhill, Ontario, was fourth at 1:21.015 in the No. 22 Alegra Motorsports entry. Morad’s teammate, Carlos de Quesada, rounded out the top five at 1:21.636 in the No. 50 Alegra Motorsports Porsche.

Daniel, from Candiac, Quebec, led Gold Cup competitors at 1:21.901 in the No. 75 TRC Porsche. Martin Harvey, from Berthierville, Quebec, was second at 1:25.120 in No. 08 Wingho Motorsport entry. Orey Fidani, from Woodbridge, Ontario, qualified third at 1:25.299 in the No. 13 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

“Usually we wait for others to go out and make their lap, and we go at the end of the session,” Daniel said. “But strangely, my mom before the session told me, ‘Hey, if it’s rain, are you going to go out when (the session) starts?’ I said: ‘Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. I think it’s going to rain.’ So we said, yes, let’s go out on the green flag.”

Up Next

Round 1, a 45-minute race, is scheduled to start at 2:45 p.m. (ET) Saturday. For live updates on all the action, follow @IMSALive on Twitter. For live timing, visit scoring.imsa.com.

POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:

CHRIS GREEN (No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports, Platinum Cup pole): (Did you know this weather was coming?): “Yes and no. It was against our strategy, for sure. We had a little bit of a different game plan going in, but just putting down that quick lap at the beginning. I was really slowed down after the crash because I was right behind the guy (Bruno Chapinotti) when he spun in front of me. So it kind of affected my overall lap time. But you know what? Do a quick lap time right away because you never know when there will be a caution or a red flag, so may as well be safe than sorry. I love the rain, so I was getting more excited the more I saw it come down. It started sprinkling. You could see it accumulate on the dash. You could feel the effect on the car a little bit because the track surface was getting a little damp.” (How many flying laps did you get in?): “I figured I got one that I was building up to. I can’t even say I had a chance to give it a flyer.”

MARCO CIRONE (No. 88 Mark Motors Racing, Platinum Masters top qualifier): “We knew that the rain was coming, but we didn’t know exactly when. But as soon as we went out there, a couple of laps into it, it started to drizzle a little bit. And then there was that incident. We barely got in three laps.” (Did the drizzle change your strategy?): “It was starting to concern me. I was on the radio, saying, ‘How does it look?’ because I had that visor on, and I couldn’t really tell if the track was wet or not. Certainly on the windshield, when you’re going that fast, it looks like it’s a lot worse than it is.” (How many flying laps did you turn?): “Just one, and I didn’t even think it was a flyer because I was sliding around everywhere. But it was good enough for second, so we’re very fortunate and thankful. Hopefully tomorrow will be a great race.”

JERIMY DANIEL (No. 75 TRC, Gold Cup pole): “Usually we wait for others to go out and make their lap, and we go at the end of the session. But strangely, my mom before the session told me, ‘Hey, if it’s rain, are you going to go out when (the session) starts?’ I said: ‘Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. I think it’s going to rain.’ So we said, yes, let’s go out on the green flag. We did three laps. I was following Etienne (Borgeat). Just when I passed the crash in Turn 8, I think it was over.” (When did it start to rain harder?): “My second flying lap. So I had time to do a pretty good lap. Not as good as I had hoped, but because of the rain I was trying to back off a little bit and just make sure I got a good lap and not more.”