Holton takes PWC Touring Car pole at CTMP

Paul Holton may have had a home track advantage when the young Touring Car racer rolled into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend.

The 30-year-old professional driver races for the Toronto-based C360R racing operation and has numerous laps around the famed 2.459-mile, 10-turn permanent road racing facility. So, it was no surprise that Holton drove the No. 71 C360R/Pfaff Audi RS3 LMS Club sedan to the TC division pole Friday at CTMP. Dean Copeland and Canaan O'Connell captured the TCA and TCB poles Friday at CTMP.

Holton clocked the pole-winning lap at one minute, 28.476 seconds for an average speed of 100.05 mph, besting the old TC qualifying mark set by Ernie Francis Jr., of 1:28.784 (99.707 mph) in 2015 at CTMP.

"It was a really good lap," said Holton. "We have a lot of cars out here and it's a relatively short track, so traffic was certainly a big factor there. We had to pass a couple of cars in the fast lap. Compass Racing is based out of Toronto so this is like the second home track. We spend so much time testing here and I really love this place. (We didn't have much time) testing in the RS3 because we couldn't get the car into the country in time."

Nick Wittmer will start alongside Holton in Saturday's 40-minute Round 3 TC feature at CTMP after he recorded a time of 1:29.106 (99.34 mph) for the second spot in the 26-car TC field in the No. 91 ST Racing BMW M235iR.

Anthony Geraci rounded out the top three with a 1:29.124 (99.32 mph) with his No. 69 S.A.C. Racing Audi RS3 LMS followed by Karl Wittmer in the No. 99 Honda Ste-Rose Racing Honda Accord at 1:29.185 (99.25 mph) and Cody Ellsworth in the No. 11 RacerInk Motorsports Porsche Cayman at 1:29.294 (99.13 mph).

Sarah Montgomery was involved in a wild Turn 2 flip in qualifications at CTMP Friday with her No. 65 Lemon of Love/Shea Racing Honda Civic Si. Montgomery's car went off the track and flipped numerous times before coming to a stop on its wheels. Montgomery was taken to the CTMP medical center for observation. In addition, Spencer Patterson was taken to Lakeridge Health in Bowmanville, Ontario for observation after a Turn 10 accident in his No. 79 Patterson Racing Mazda MX-5.

In the TCA division, Copeland won the pole with his No. 07 Copeland Motorsports Mazda Global MX-5 with a time of 1.:34.830 (93.35 mph) followed by VIR double race winner Matthew Fassnacht at 1:35.681 (92.51 mph) in his No. 74 S.A.C. Racing Mazda MX-5 and Tom O'Gorman in the No. 94 Shea Racing Honda Civic Si at 1:35.796 (92.40 mph).

O'Connell, son of four-time PWC GT champion Johnny O'Connell, was quickest in his No. 24 Tech Sport Racing Chevrolet Sonic with a best lap of 1:44.665 (84.57 mph) for the TCB division with second going to Jake Pipal in the No. 6 Pipal Racing Honda Fit at 1:45.423 (83.97 mph).

The Touring Car 40-minute main event on Saturday scheduled for 9:40 a.m. ET at CTMP, while Sunday's feature begins at 8:30 a.m. ET.