Porsche Carrera Cup North America entrants managed to dodge the rain in Montreal at the Formula 1 AWS Canadian Grand Prix today, with championship leader Loek Hartog setting the pace at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The teams hit the track for a 40-minute practice session in the morning and a further 30-minute practice in the afternoon. Between the two, the circuit was hit with a torrential downpour.
Despite rubber being washed away during the rain, times still tumbled in the afternoon session.
Alex Sedgwick set the pace during the morning session but it was Hartog and last-start winner, Canadian Zachary Vanier, who swapped positions for the top spot during the session.
Hartog eventually came out on top after Vanier suffered contact with the wall, damaging the rear of his JDX Racing Porsche.
The Dutch Kellymoss racer finished with a time of 1:38.224 – but he was almost eclipsed by McCann Racing’s Michael McCann who finished in P2 only .011 of a second behind Hartog. Vanier finished third fastest ahead of Sedgwick and MDK Motorsports’ Dan Clarke.
“ It’s a nice feeling to end the day on top,” said Hartog.
“It’s a nice track, definitely. This one goes out to the boys. We had very challenging conditions and managed to choose the right strategy to go on slicks from the beginning.
“In the end, we were still fast, and I’m very happy with what we managed to squeeze out.
“It’s tight at the top, but there’s still definitely some performance to gain in myself.”
McCann again showed impressive speed today. It is not the first time he has featured towards the front of the pack, finishing P1 in the opening practice session of the year in Sebring.
”I like tracks that no one’s ever really been to before. I think that’s like a leg up for a smaller team like ours,” McCann said.
“I do love that because it’s hard. You can’t test here, which is nice, but it was nice to be P2. Luke has just got longer legs than me, so I think he just reached across the finish line right before I did.
“Congrats to him with P1. I think we’ll settle for P2 right now, but then tomorrow we’ll have some more fun.”
The battle for Pro-am supremacy was equally fierce, with Kellymoss racer Jordan Wallace coming out on top after times tumbled throughout the session, with Moisey Uretsky and Alan Metni also looking strong.
“First P1 of the year here in Montreal – I can’t be more excited,” Wallace said.
“It’s good, but it’s just practice, so we’re going be focused on bringing out our best effort in qualifying. I think it’ll be really good – the car feels great.
“The track is a little slick. A little sketchy, but we have to figure it out, and we’re going to be fast tomorrow.”
The battle for Masters honors was headed by MDK Motorsport’s Mark Kvamme who continued his impressive run of speed on Formula 1 weekends.
“I don’t know what it is, but I always seem to do well on street circuits. These are tracks where you can’t practice very much.
“We had a good session, but I have to hand it to my coach Trenton Estep. When we were testing, he would tell me to go out immediately and go as fast as you can. That’s when you can really start feeling the track underneath you.
“That’s what I tried to do today. I was able to get some decent times. In fact, my time should have been better. I got stuck behind somebody on my quickest lap. So I think I have another half a second more.”
Chris Bellomo was second fastest in the afternoon session ahead of Matt Halcome.
Qualifying for this weekend’s rounds five and six of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America will take place at 9:15 am (Eastern) tomorrow. The first 40-minute race of the weekend goes green at 5:55 pm (Eastern).
