Fogarty wins pole for Montreal 200

Jon Fogarty

Jon Fogarty edged Scott Pruett by 0.012 seconds to win his season-leading fourth pole of the 2009 season Friday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and will lead the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Daytona Prototype field to the green flag for Saturday's Montreal 200 at the 2.709-mile track.

The two-hour race is set to start at 2:15 p.m. ET Saturday (SPEED, live at 2 p.m. ET).

Fogarty set his fastest time of 1:32.235 (105.734 mph) on his fifth lap in the No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley, earning his second pole at the track; he also grabbed the pole during his 2007 championship campaign. Fogarty now has four pole positions this season, giving him 12 career overall and Daytona Prototype poles, which ties him with Pruett for second all-time. The two are one behind James Weaver's 13 overall poles.

Pruett, who won the pole for last year's race, was second in the No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley with a time of 1:32.247 (105.721 mph). Frenchman Romain Dumas was third in the No. 12 Verizon Wireless Porsche Riley, clocking in at 1:38.425 (105.498 mph).

Fourth was David Donohue in the No. 58 Brumos Porsche Riley at 1:38.363 (105.331 mph) and fifth was defending race co-winner Brian Frisselle in the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara at 1:32.874 (105.007 mph).

Toronto's Mark Wilkins, who co-won last season's race after running as low as fourth on the white flag lap, spun into the gravel trap in Turn 6, bringing out the black flag for all competitors and giving everyone a three-and-a-half minute window to finish qualifying. However, nothing changed at the front, allowing Fogarty to stay up front.

The only Quebec-born driver competing in the Daytona Prototype race, Jean-Francois Dumoulin, will see co-driver and Toronto native John Farano start from 15th in the No. 51 Tower Events Ford Riley.

In GT, Leh Keen earned his third consecutive pole position in record time – 1:39.339 (98.173 mph), which was more than three seconds faster than the previous record, set a season ago by Farnbacher Loles Racing teammate Eric Lux. Keen drove the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3, and will start the car before handing off the Porsche to point co-leader Dirk Werner. Together, the two have a 31-point lead (279-248) over defending series co-champion Kelly Collins.

Taking second was Tom Sutherland in the No. 30 3Dimesional/Click-Away Computers Mazda RX-8 he'll co-drive with Dane Cameron. Sutherland turned in a time of 1:39.402 (98.111 mph). He and Cameron make up the youngest driver pairing in the Rolex Series this weekend.

Third was Nick Ham in the No. 70 Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8 at 1:40.054 (97.471 mph) he'll share with Montreal-born and SpeedSource team owner Sylvain Tremblay, while fourth was Collins in the No. 07 Drinkin' Mate Pontiac GXP.R. Rounding out the top five was Andrew Davis in the No. 57 BryanMark Financial/Stevenson Automotive Pontiac GXP.R he shares with Robin Liddell.

Chris Green, born in Beaconsfield, Quebec – about an hour from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – was 12th in the No. 21 Battery Tender/Find.com Pontiac GTO.R.