The Michelin men are busy in Mosport this weekend with the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada in action in Canada on Michelin tires.

It was a battle of local knowledge yesterday, as Torontonians Randy Oswald and Marco Cirone battled it out for the pole position for the fifth round of the championship, the final event of the inaugural three-race season. But when an early spin put Cirone on the sidelines with only one fast lap, it was Oswald’s TRG teammate, Carlos Gomez, who gave Oswald a scare.

On his third lap, Oswald put his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car on top of the field and the Platinum class, with a time of 1:23.724. But two laps later, Gomez, Oswald’s teammate, clocked a lap of 1:23.821 to start alongside Oswald, with American Melanie Snow, Cirone and current Platinum points leader Perry Bortolotti rounding out the top five.

Michael Levitas put his car on the Gold Cup class pole, backing up his quick time in the morning practice.

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge has become a fixture on the racing scene around the world. Run on every continent except Antarctica and Africa, it is estimated that the GT3 Cup Challenge will hold 120 events and 255 championship rounds in 2011. The Canadian series is divided into three classes: Platinum Cup, featuring the more powerful 2011 and 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, Gold Cup, which includes 2005½ – 2009 Porsches and Silver Cup for 996-generation Porsches. All three classes run on Michelin tires.

The two races of the season finale run today at 4:50 PM and Sunday, July 24 at 8:55 AM at the Mobil 1 Presents the Grand Prix of Mosport.