Series Montreal qualifying report

Fogarty Stops Taylor Streak, Wins DP Pole For Montreal 200
Said Captures GT Pole in Rebuilt Marsh Racing Corvette

Pole winner Jon Fogarty celebrates with second place Ricky Taylor

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

MONTREAL (Aug. 19, 2011) – Jon Fogarty stopped Ricky Taylor’s six-race pole winning streak to preserve his own place in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series record book while continuing to dominate qualifying at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Fogarty ran a lap of 1:32.999 (104.865 mph) in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Chevrolet/Riley to capture the pole position for Saturday’s Montreal 200, Round 11 of the 2011 Rolex Series season. It was his fourth pole in five attempts at the 15-turn, 2.709-mile circuit.

The two-hour race takes the green flag at 11:15 a.m. ET Saturday. The race will be broadcast live on MRN, and same-day SPEED television coverage begins at 7 p.m.

“The record is nice and everything, but it’s not what we come here to do,” Fogarty said after winning his 18th career pole and second of the season. “I won’t disregard the fact that maybe I did feel a little bit of extra pressure. Ricky has been doing an awesome job all season, and they’ve been really tough to beat in qualifying.”

Taylor began his pole streak at Lime Rock Park on Memorial Day in the No. 10 SunTrust Chevrolet/Dallara. He and co-driver Max Angelelli converted half of those poles into victories, winning both races at Watkins Glen International in addition to Lime Rock.

While Taylor has been quick to credit his team for his qualifying success, he took the share of blame for coming up short.

“I don’t think I got quite as much out of the tries when they were at their best early in the session,” admitted the 22-year-old college student. “Jon did a real good job today. Winning one pole is really satisfying for me. I’m just really happy I had that run of six.”

David Donohue qualified a season-best third in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Porsche/Riley, with Paul Edwards and Ryan Dalziel rounding out the top five qualifiers. DP points leader Memo Rojas qualified seventh in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley he co-drives with Scott Pruett. The pair has won five of 10 races this season.

#31 Marsh Racing Corvette: Boris Said, Owen Kelly

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

Boris Said and Andrew Davis went head to head in GT qualifying, trading the top spot four times before Said prevailed to win his second consecutive Montreal pole. Said ran a lap of 1:42.271 (95.408 mph) in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Corvette. It was the same car that he raced at Montreal last year, replacing Marsh Racing’s new primary car that was badly damaged at Watkins Glen last weekend in an incident involving NASCAR driver Joey Logano.

“We have a long way to go to win the race, but it’s nice to have a small victory today,” commented Said, who will also be driving in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Montreal. “This track requires so much commitment and trust that you’re not going to take the wall down.”

Davis held on for second with a lap of 1:42.530 in the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Ronnie Bremer, James Gue and Wayne Nonnamaker rounded out the top five GT qualifiers.

“I put down the best lap I could do, and I was pretty happy with it,” Davis said. “I thought I had them covered. Then the team came on the radio and told me I needed another threetenths to catch Boris.” The Montreal 200 is the lone on-track activity for the Rolex Series on Saturday.