PWC: Gallagher (TC), Whiting (TCA), Morse (TCB) earn Laguna Seca poles

Patrick Gallagher earned the Pirelli World Challenge TC pole amid a deep field of 23 cars, Paul Whiting topped the 13-car TCA field and Henry Morse was fastest of the 10 entries in TCB during the first three qualifying sessions for the PWC season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Set beneath a beautiful blue sky, and greeted by moderate temperatures, Gallagher's Atlanta Motorsports Group Mazda MX-5 was the decisive TC pole winner with a lap of 1m35.823s as Nick Wittmer secured second in his Honda Accord V6 Coupe (-0.892) and Adam Poland made it a Mazda 1-3 with his MX-5 (-1.401).

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"We feel very good here," Gallagher said. "We have been doing the work to get the car just right. I think we have them covered a bit. We expected this kind of performance from the car. The Atlanta Motorsports Group really knows their stuff and we wanted to do well at Mazda Raceway with the Mazda MX-5. Everyone was trying to play games today in qualifying. They were trying to slow down and draft. We knew the way to go was to do our job and not get caught up with everyone's planning. We got a good lap and we are happy with the pole."

Whiting's Honda Civic Si displaced 10 Mazda MX-5s, another Civic Si, and a Toyota FR-S with a quick lap of 1m44.155s, and was followed by Daniel Williams (-0.116s) and Joey Bickers (-0.145s) who completed TCA's top three.

"We were a little back and forth with Joey (Bickers) early on," Whiting said. "I wasn't happy with the setup early but then the car kind of came to me. I kept my driving the same and the car really came around in qualifying. I was trying to be smooth and then the crew radioed me to make it happen on that last lap. So I backed off the prior lap and got a good run for the last lap. The car felt absolutely perfect. It was on the money and I want to thank the crew guys are a tremendous setup. Joey is a really solid racer and he races clean. So I'm excited for the race. It should be a good show."

In TCB, Morse led the field with a 1m52.182s lap in his Mazda 2. Tom O'Gorman was second in his Honda Fit (-0.499s) and Will Rodgers complemented Morse's speed with his Mazda 2 in third (-0.505s).

"It was awesome out there today," Morse said. "My Mazda 2 was on rails. We were pushing hard working on the setup this morning. Everything lined up and I was able to put together that perfect lap. We work on a gradual lap time during the session. I started off at about a 1:55 lap and then I started knocking off a second each lap until my final lap. Then I just put in a strong effort and took the pole on the last lap. It feels good as we are battling for a series championship."

UP NEXT: TC/TCA/TCB Race 1, 11:45 a.m. PT Saturday.