Ryan Yardley brought his name to the forefront of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America conversation on Saturday morning by scoring his first Race Brew Pole Award of the season at the Grand Prix du Canada.
Yardley’s 992 GT3 Cup fielded by Topp Racing finished fourth in both practice sessions at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Friday, but powered to the top of the Pro class in qualifying with a time of one minute, 35.789 seconds.
Yardley’s lap was .248 seconds quicker than that of championship leader Riley Dickinson in second, and more than half a second quicker than Jimmy Llibre in third. Prior to weekend in Montréal, only Dickinson and Llibre had scored pole positions in 2025.
“It feels super nice,” said Yardley, who is currently third in the Pro class championship.
“An awesome lap, so I’m super happy with that. A massive thank you to everyone at Topp Racing for the fast car and I’m looking forward to the race later today.
“It was a pretty awesome lap, there wasn’t much wrong with that one. I’m proud to put the whole lap together and show the pace. I knew we were in a good position yesterday, we just didn’t have the tire life to show that. I’m excited to throw some new tires on today and show what we can do.”
In the Pro-Am category, JP Martinez captured his third pole of the season with ACI Motorsports, running his quickest lap of 1:37.104. The Carrera Cup newcomer – who currently leads the class championship standings – is in search of his third victory of the season after winning the opening two rounds at Sebring International Raceway.
“It wasn’t easy, I had to fight for it today,” Martinez described.
“I think the top three were just a hundredth away, so I got it on my last lap. I’m really happy I did that. I want to give a big thank you to ACI because they gave me a great car. They made some changes last night that really paid off. I’m happy with this one, I had to fight for it.
“(The race) will be interesting. The first five Pro-Ams are right there, so it’s going to be a great race and I’m looking forward to it.”
Behind Martinez was Pedro Torres and Patrick Mulcahy to round out the top three.
Scott Blind continued his blistering performance in the Masters category and remains undefeated in capturing class pole positions so far this year. Blind’s Ruckus Racing Porsche lapped the Montréal circuit quickest-in-class at 1:37.700.
“This track is really neat,” said Blind.
“Of course, these F1 events are so cool. It’s just a great experience. It’s a new track for us, we weren’t here last year. The town, the track, everything is great.
“I’m in the mix (of the Pro-Am field). We’re trying to work our way further and further closer to the front, but we’re still towards the back.
“We’re going to have to keep our eyes downfield and paying attention. I’m hoping we have a nice calm, clean start and get through one lap. Then I think we’ll be in good shape.”
Porsche Carrera Cup North America competitors now take the rest of the afternoon to prepare for their first race of the weekend, which goes green on Saturday evening at 6:05 p.m. ET.
Race 2 on Sunday is set for 9:30 a.m. prior to the Formula One race at 2 p.m.
The pair of Carrera Cup races at the Grand Prix du Canada will be shown live on IMSA and Porsche Motorsport North America YouTube Channels, IMSA TV, Peacock, and the Porsche Motorsport North America social channels on Facebook, Linkedin, Threads and X.
