Mazda has scored pole for Sunday's Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix, with Tristan Nunez taking the SpeedSource-run Prototype to the top spot in qualifying at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Nunez laid down a best lap of 1:10.126 in Saturday's 15-minute qualifying session to edge out the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP of Ricky Taylor by 0.309 seconds.
It marked the second pole for both Nunez and the Mazda team in the last four races, as the Japanese manufacturer seeks its elusive first overall win on Sunday.
The 20-year-old rising star will share his pole-sitting Mazda with Jonathan Bomarito in Sunday's two-hour and 40-minute race.
Tom Long made it two Mazdas in the top-three, thanks to a 1:10.572 in the No. 70 entry, while Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen winner Christian Fittipaldi was fourth.
The No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Eric Curran completed the top-five overall and in the Prototype class.
Colin Braun scored his second Prototype Challenge class pole of the season, in a dominant qualifying effort for the CORE autosport driver.
Braun reeled off a best lap of 1:11.946 to outpace the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FL0M09 of James French by 0.945 seconds.
The defending class champion recorded the three quickest times in the session, as one of the only Gold/Platinum-rated driver to qualify the car.
The No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports entry of Stephen Simpson will start third in class, ahead of Matt McMurry in the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports entry in fourth.
Antonio Garcia, meanwhile, gave the Corvette C7.R its first GT Le Mans class pole of the season.
Following a 10kg weight break and 0.4 mm larger air restrictor, the Corvettes already showed good pace in practice and carried it over into qualifying for the seventh round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Garcia led most of the session in the No. 3 Corvette and was only briefly outpaced by his teammate Oliver Gavin in the sister No. 4 car and Dirk Mueller in the No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT.
The Spaniard’s 1:15.198 lap was a mere 0.038 seconds faster than Mueller’s Ford, while Watkins Glen pole-sitter Richard Westbrook put in a late flyer which moved him up to third thanks to a fastest third sector time.
This meant the No. 100 BMW Team RLL M6 GTLM of Lucas Luhr lost P3 in the end, with the sister No. 25 car lining up in fifth in class for Sunday’s race.
Gavin only managed the sixth fastest time in the No. 4 Corvette, while initial pace-setter Giancarlo Fisichella piloted the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE to P7, ahead of both Porsches that continue to struggle for speed.
Alex Riberas dominated qualifying in GT Daytona, easily breaking the qualifying record time, having posted a 1:18.245 in the No. 23 The Heart of Racing/Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R he shares with Mario Farnbacher.
Andrew Davis came up 0.337 seconds short to make it two poles in a row for Stevenson Motorsports in the No. 6 Audi R8 LMS, while the sister No. 9 entry of Matt Bell ending up in sixth in class.
Spencer Pumpelly’s No. 16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 and Bret Curtis’ No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 made it four manufacturers in the top-four.
The Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix is set for Sunday at 11 a.m. ET with live coverage on FS1.
