Qualifying for Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park delivered a dramatic battle across all three classes, with Jeremy Clarke taking the overall pole position.

Just like at Watkins Glen, Clarke will start on pole in LMP2. The Bronze rated-American racer produced a stunning 1m07.904s lap to take overall pole and break a seven-year LMP2 track record at CTMP while driving the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA 07-Gibson which he will share with Tom Dillmann.

The session turned into a close fight between Clarke, Misha Goikhberg, and PJ Hyett, with all three drivers showing front-row pace during the 15-minute qualifying run. Clarke and Goikhberg both benefited from changing tires during the session, and Clarke used the extra grip to jump to the top before improving again in the final moments.

Goikhberg, racing the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA, qualified second with a 1m08.077s, putting the Canadian driver on the front row for his home event while CTMP winner from last year PJ Hyett will start third in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA after setting a 1m08.186.

Behind the top three, Daniel Goldburg placed the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA fourth, while LMP2 points leader George Kurtz completed the top five in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry.

The rest of the LMP2 field was led by Phil Fayer in the No. 2 United Autosports car, followed by Chris Cumming for Pratt Miller Motorsports, Tobias Lütke for TDS Racing, and John Farano for Tower Motorsports.

Verhagen Takes BMW to GTD Pro Pole

In GTD Pro, Neil Verhagen delivered under pressure to put the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO on class pole.

Verhagen’s best lap of 1m14.382s was enough to secure his second consecutive CTMP pole and the first pole of the season for both himself, teammate Connor Di Phillipi, and Paul Miller Racing.

The final minutes of the session were intense, with Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports looking strong late in the run. Nicky Catsburg briefly held the top spot in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, before Verhagen moved ahead with less than three minutes remaining.

One of the biggest surprises came from Max Esterson, who qualified second in the No. 59 RLL McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. Esterson’s front-row result comes in his debut at CTMP and followed a difficult pair of practice sessions for RLL Team McLaren, which makes the turnaround even more impressive.

The margin behind Verhagen was extremely tight. Esterson, Alexander Sims, and Catsburg were covered by just 0.038s, with Sims taking third in the No. 3 Corvette and Catsburg fourth in the sister No. 4 car.

Scott Andrews completed the top five in the No. 68 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, giving the YRB “Car Blanche” entry a strong result in its GTD Pro class debut. Andrews finished ahead of several major factory-supported efforts, including Lexus, Lamborghini, and both Ford Mustang GT3 EVOs.

Barrichello Puts Heart of Racing on GTD Pole Despite Penalty

The GTD class also belonged to The Heart of Racing Team, as Eduardo Barrichello put the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo on pole despite a difficult start to the session.

The Aston Martin was held for five minutes at the beginning of qualifying after failing to complete the required torque sensor offset test. That left Barrichello with less track time than his rivals, but he needed only a handful of laps to deliver.

The GTD championship leader, set a 1m15.130s, finishing more than two tenths clear of the field and giving The Heart of Racing another major qualifying result. It was Barrichello’s second individual GTD pole of the season, following his first IMSA Motul P1 Award at Sebring, and further strengthens his position in the championship battle as well!

The result also capped off a remarkable day for Heart of Racing. Just an hour earlier, Kobe Pauwels, who is filling in for Barrichello at the FIA WEC round in São Paulo, claimed LMGT3 pole for the team in the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo.

Elswhere, Mason Filippi qualified second in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, putting the Corvette on the GTD front row, which Filippi shares with fan-favorite Robert Wickens. Benjamin Pedersen was third in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, followed closely by Russell Ward in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.

The top five was completed by Danny Formal in the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, which is good starting place for last year’s GTD class-winning car at CTMP.

Lorenzo Patrese initially looked set for a stronger result in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 after setting the pace in FP2, but penalties dropped him to eighth. His fastest lap was deleted due to a practice incident on Friday, and additional laps were removed for not following controlled powertrain parameters.

The Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park gets underway Sunday at 2:05 p.m. ET, with coverage available in the United States on NBC Sports’ Peacock and USA, and internationally through IMSA’s YouTube channel and IMSA.tv.