Nick Tandy delivered a flying lap of 1:13.517 in qualifying for Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix to score the pole position for Porsche GT Team. He set a new track record at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The new lap continued Porsche’s dominance of the weekend in the GT Le Mans class. Porsche – as they did last year – led all three pre-qualifying practice sessions and then took the pole. Tandy’s lap was 0.568 of a second faster than the 2017 pole, set by Dirk Werner at 1.14.085, around the 2.459-mile circuit.

The Englishman also won pole here in 2015, when he and Patrick Pilet won the GT Le Mans class race in their No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR.

Now in the new generation Porsche, the team has ended a near year-long drought without a pole. The team scored the new car’s first pole at this race last year with Dirk Werner driving.

Tandy’s fifth career GTLM pole in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship action is his first since the 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

He set his fastest lap on the sixth of nine laps, proving the longevity of his Michelin tires over his qualifying stint.

“It’s good we can bring the tires up to temperature (so soon),” Tandy told IMSA Radio after the run.

“The Porsche is really good at this tack. We will see what the pace is on the long run. I’m sure we won’t have such an advantage (in the race). We qualified on pole in ’15 and won the race, so hope to repeat that.”

Tandy’s day has also added to an excellent day for England. Countryman Jack Hawksworth won the GT Daytona class pole position for Lexus on the same day England has defeated Sweden 2-0 in the World Cup quarterfinal. That’s made the English drivers in the IMSA paddock quite a happy lot.

??????? 2-0 ?? in #WorldCup

Congrats we're assuming a happy quartet of #ENG drivers in @IMSA GTLM, @NickTandyR, @OliverGavin, @RWestbrook1 & @AlexanderSims, here in the @CTMPofficial paddock! #Mobil1SCGP

— Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) July 7, 2018

Behind Tandy, Ford was next with Ryan Briscoe in the No. 67 Ford GT at 1:13.831. Jan Magnussen slotted the first Corvette into third with Laurens Vanthoor fourth in the second Porsche. All four of those cars were in the 1:13 bracket.

Tandy’s countryman Oliver Gavin in the second Corvette also beat last year’s track record lap, by just 0.005 of a second. Jesse Krohn missed beating it by just 0.015 of a second in the first of the BMW M8 GTEs.

Yes! 2-0 Win for England ??????? #ThreeLions #ComeOnEngland #WorldCupRussia #ItsComingHome

— Oliver Gavin (@olivergavin) July 7, 2018