SRT Motorsports will start from pole for the second time in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season thanks to Kuno Wittmer’s performance in the qualifying for the Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Canadian Wittmer was given the responsibility of qualifying the #93 Dodge Viper on the series’ only visit to Canada. He lapped the 2.5 mile track in 1:15.206 on his third lap into the 15 minute session. That time held firm against the challenges from others in the class, led by Corvette Racing man Antonio Garcia.
“I’m not going to say I have an advantage over anybody because all these drivers are world class,” said Wittmer. “It just helps to know a little bit more around here. With the help of Team SRT and the Dodge Viper, we operated really well all day. I think it was just one of those magic laps. You just have to put it down. I gave it everything I had, pulled out all my tricks, and this is definitely one for home.”
“I went through turns one, two and eight faster than in practice and I knew that’s where we needed to gain time. I was braking much deeper – about 50 to 100 meters deeper – and right back out on power, and the car held it. The Viper just held it.”
The Quebecois’ pole was the first for SRT Motorsports since Marc Goossens paced the field for the season opening Rolex 24 at Daytona. It also marks the Viper’s return to the pole at CTMP as Jonathan Bomarito, who shares the #93 with Wittmer was on the class pole for the American Le Mans series event at the Ontario track last season.
Dominik Farnbacher, sharing the #91 car with Goossens was seventh fastest in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.
The Dodge Viper also became the first car to sweep the poles in both GTLM and GT Daytona (GTD) with Jeroen Bleekemolen taking class pole in the #33 ViperExchange.com sponsored car.
With rain predicted a two hour, 45-minute race awaits the teams, starting at 2pm Eastern Time, the SRT teams hoping they enjoy the clearer vision from the lead should the weather turn for the worse.
