Asked to describe his first impressions of Canadian Tire Motorsports Park after taking the #93 SRT Viper to the GT class pole on his very first visit, Jonathan Bomarito delivered a perfect description, “It takes your breath away.”

“There is an awesome flow through turns 2-3-4 and it on a knife edge,” said the Californian of the mighty 2.459 mile circuit as he scored his first ever ALMS GT pole. “It can be a lot of fun.”

Taking the overall pole was the defending race and ALMS series P1 champion Klaus Graf of Muscle Milk Pickett Honda Racing who certainly agrees. “I love it here,” said Graf (pictured right at the press conference with Mike Conway).

“It is a lot of fun if you hit the car set up right,” said Graf, who confessed that he wasn’t really happy with his car in practice until his team made a final adjustment late in the final session.

So what do the two pole sitters expect at the start? “Hitting the optimum tire pressures and temperatures is one of the keys to performance,” said Graf.

Bomarito agrees. “The Michelin tires come in really quick with the loads and speeds here. The GT class is so close that you can expect everyone to be on the attack right from the start.”

The top five GT cars were separated by just 0.264 seconds in qualifying.
So as the 32 car field heads to the starting line on a very fast and difficult track, with tight competition, and heavy traffic, drivers want to remember to breathe and have fun.