Qualifying Grids Set at Canadian Open After Super Pole

The pace has been set at the Canadian Open in Mont-Tremblant as Friday hosted the Motomaster Super Pole Qualifying sessions.

All drivers took to the track for an 8-minute session to post their best time, with the top six from each category getting the opportunity to take to the track again and run two laps by themselves to determine the fastest Friday drivers and the grids for the upcoming two heat races.

With a number of different race teams and chassis manufacturers present this weekend it was BirelART who showcased their speed with six of their drivers posting the fastest times in their respective classes, followed by two for OTK chassis and one each for SodiKart and Intrepid Karts.

Getting things started early in the afternoon was Rotax Mini-Max where Antoine Lemieux (PSL Karting/BirelART) moved up from third in the initial Qualifying session to go P1 in SuperPole.

Next up, the Briggs Masters scrambled to get to the grid on time, with Eric Lessard (Lessard Racing/Intrepid) posting the fastest solo lap. He was followed by Christophe Boisclair (CRT/BirelART) showcasing that he still has the pace on track, going quickest in Rotax DD2 Masters.

Lucas Deslongchamps (BCR/BirelART) was next up to post the quickest time, going P1 in Rotax Junior, which has 25 entrants this weekend and is the second largest Rotax category this weekend. With 38 in Rotax Senior, two groups were needed for the initial session which saw mere hundreds of a second separating the very close competition. In the Super Pole laps, Adam Ali (REM/Kosmic) threw down a blistering lap to earn the pole position.

Briggs Junior followed up after lunch and Jordan West (Prime/BirelART) blasted a lap more than two-tenths of a second quicker than his competitors. Justin Michaud (SH/SodiKart) paced both the qualifying and the Super Pole session in Briggs Cadet.

Lucas Pernod (BCR/BirelART) was initially the quickest in Rotax DD2, but Oliver Bedard (Premier Karting/TonyKart) stepped up in Super Pole to get the job done and the pole position.

After the first lap of Super Pole in Briggs Senior, the duo of Callum Baxter (HMPropela/Kart Republic) and Jordan Prior (Prime/BirelART) set identical lap times atop the charts, but on the next time by, Prior ripped a time that was more than two-tenths of a second quicker to earn the top spot.

Finally, the Shifter division saw Davide Greco (PSL Karting/BirelART) lead the way while Michel Goulet (SH/SodiKart) was the fastest of the Shifter Masters drivers.

Drivers will get two heat races to reset the grids for the PreFinals which will set the starting spots for Sunday’s Canadian Open Championship Finals.

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