Van Walwijk Takes Maiden Pole Position in Quebec

Ferrari factory driver Denis van Walwijk put in the quickest time on Saturday qualifying and will start the Molson GT Gatineau from Pole Position.

In his thirty-seventh attempt, the South African would get his first pole position in the series, doing one better than his previous best: a pair of second place starting positions from Monza in May and Paul Ricard last year. A clean lap in his second attempt would secure Denis the pole position over his teammate Evgeny Restov. This would be the pair’s second front row lockout of the year, after doing so in Ferrari’s home race at Monza. The gap between the pair was less than four hundredths of a second.

After the pair of factory Ferrari 550s are a quartet of Manufacture Trophy entries from four different manufactures. Leading the charge, a further half a tenth behind Restov, is Matteo Rossi in his Gulf Aston Martin starting third on Sunday. A tenth behind Rossi is the first Solvalou Lamborghini being driven by championship contender Chris Winter. The latter pair of this quartet, starting on row three, is Joey Alliot and Paul Travesen driving for the factory Chevrolet and Lister programs respectively.

The top nine starters are all Manufacture Trophy entries, with the top eight of them being within a second of the pole time set by van Walwijk. The only Independent that qualified in the top ten was Helena Bertinelli in the Euromotor Lister Storm GT. This is the best result for the team so far this season, beating out Gia Van Dycke by half a tenth for the fifth row starting position, with the team’s best qualifying position coming last year in Brazil; Randall Wade giving the team a sixth place starting position for that race.

After the American would be the major players in the Independent’s Trophy; Markus Jacobson’s best time in the session was less than two tenths off of what the Belgian Van Dyck was able to achieve leaving the Finn starting fourteenth. Between them is one of the Tom Douglas Saleens, qualified by Antonio Reyna-Sanchez, and the first of the Pagani Zonda GRs driven by Anton Robishaud in his home race weekend.

Qualifying Results – Molson GT Gatineau