Mosport: Series GT qualifying report

Curran Scores First 2008 SPEED GT Pole for Corvette in Canada

CANADA (Aug. 23, 2008) -- Eric Curran, of East Hampton, Mass., captured his first SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship pole of the season and will lead the field for Saturday evening's Mosport SPEED GT Round Seven race Presented by Toyo Tires, part of the Mobil 1 Presents the Grand Prix of Mosport. Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., will start second.

Driving the No. 30 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Corvette, defending race winner Curran turned a fastest lap of 1:23.022 (106.627 mph) around the 2.459-mile, 10-turn circuit. It was both Curran's and Corvette's first series pole in over a year, the last pole for each coming at Mid-Ohio in 2007.

"It feels great," Curran beamed after the run. "We needed this after the year we've had, no doubt about that. All the Whelen Engineering guys have been working so hard to get this No. 30 Corvette up front. The first half of the season was a disaster and the way we view it is, the second half of the season is the start of our season. Road America was a good finish and here we are at Mosport where the Corvettes have always done well. We won here last year, so I feel comfortable. The Whelen Corvette is doing great and we're hoping for a repeat of last year."

Point leader Pobst returns to the front row after qualifying seventh and eighth in the last two races, respectively. He circulated the track with a best time of 1:23.189 (106.413 mph) in the No. 1 K-PAX Racing Porsche 911 GT3.

Albuquerque's Jason Daskalos backed up a career-best qualifying effort of second two weeks ago at Road America with a lap of 1:23.224 (106.368 mph), good for third in his No. 5 Coastal Pet Products Inc. Dodge Viper. Brandon Davis, of Huntington Beach, Calif., will complete the second row with a lap of 1:23.309 (106.259 mph) in the No. 10 ACS/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang Cobra.

Michael McCann, of Canton, Ohio, completed the top five with a best time of 1:23.372 (106.179 mph) in the No. 16 Remington Shaving & Grooming Cadillac CTS-V.

McCann's lap came right as a red flag was displayed for a fire on Joey Scarallo's No. 06 Group A Wheels Pontiac GTO after losing an engine going into Turn Five. The extended cleanup period used the remainder of the session, which went green for just five of the 20 scheduled minutes.

"It certainly helped that the qualifying ended early, because I think there were cars some cars that would have been faster than I was," Curran said. "I was counting down the time with the guys on the radio saying 'is it done? Is it done?'"

Three-time 2008 winner Tommy Archer (Dodge Viper), 2006 Mosport winner Michael Galati (Porsche 911 GT3), Andy Pilgrim (Cadillac CTS-V), Tommy Milner (Aston Martin DB9) and Brian Kubinski (Chevrolet Corvette) completed the top 10.

-credit: scca pro racing