With the move to General Tires in 2019, lap speeds have
increased to record breaking levels.
One year ago, Alex Tagliani dominated the Pinty’s Grand Prix
of Toronto. Leading all 35 regulation laps, Tagliani lost in a heartbreaking
overtime finish to Andrew Ranger.
This year Tagliani showed his speed, in very dramatic
fashion. On the final lap of group qualifying Tagliani’s No.18 RONA/ EpiPen
Chevy set a time of 1 minute 15.918 seconds (83.221mph) around the 1.755-mile
street course to claim his 10th career E3 Spark Plug Pole Award.
“When I crossed the line, we got called that we did a 16.0,”
Tagliani said. “I said oh I may have left a few hundreds of a tenth on the
table. On my second lap so I tried to go for another one and it worked out so
it’s kind of cool that the entire team put the two cars on the front row”
Tagliani’s lap was good enough to smash Jason Bowles’ track
record of 1:16.260, set in 2011.
The 45-year-old driver from Lachanaie, Quebec won this race in 2016 and is looking to close the gap to the top two of Ranger and Kevin Lacroix.
READ MORE: Pinty’s stars say Cup should race on streets too
Despite appearing to have the pole almost locked down until
the final moments, Marc-Antoine Camirand will start second alongside his 22 Racing
teammate.
Camirand’s time was a 1:16.025 (83.104).
In only his second start of 2019, Gary Klutt has another top
three start. Klutt set a time of 1:16.080 (83.044), the third driver to break
the track record in the session. The Halton Hills, Ontario driver broke the
track record at CTMP earlier this year and looks to remain fast on the road
courses this season.
Defending Series Champion LP Dumoulin will roll off the grid
fourth with veteran road racer Anthony Simone completing the top-five.
The green flag for the Pinty’s Grand Prix of Toronto will drop Saturday at 5:30 p.m. EST. Fans can stream the race live on Fanschoice.TV in the United States and TSN.ca in Canada.
The complete starting lineup can be found below.
- Alex Tagliani 1:15.918
- Marc-Antoine Camirand 1:16.025
- Gary Klutt 1:16.080
- L.P. Dumoulin 1:16.353
- Anthony Simone 1:16.622
- Andrew Ranger 1:16.704
- Alex Labbe 1:16.722
- Kevin Lacroix 1:17.137
- Peter Klutt 1:17.408
- J.F. Dumoulin 1:17.666
- Jason White 1:18.183
- D.J. Kennington 1:18.292
- Donald Theetge 1:19.139
- Jason Hathaway 1:19.461
- Mark Dilley 1:19.785
- J.F. Laberge 1:19.819
- Brett Taylor 1:20.140
- David Thorndyke 1:25.719
- T.J. Rinomato 1:25.966
Read more Short Track Scene:
