The final minutes of qualifying at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park delivered more drama than most fans expect from a standard time-trial. In the GTD PRO class, the last two minutes of a fifteen-second session saw a cascade of sub-one-second gaps, culminating in a spectacular pole for the young American driver Neil Verhagen. His performance not only secured a coveted front-row start for Paul Miller Racing, it also doubled the team’s tally of poles at the historic 2.459-mile, ten-turn circuit.
Neil Verhagen’s double pole electrifies GTD PRO qualifying
Verhagen’s best lap registered a time of 1:14.382 at an average speed of 119.012 mph, shaving 0.447 seconds off the runner-up. The margin, while comfortable, belied the tight competition that saw nine of the ten cars separated by less than four-tenths of a second at the session’s peak. After a brief off-track excursion in Turn 3, Verhagen recovered, re-gaining control on the increasingly loose gravel before extracting a clean, blistering lap that left his rivals scrambling. Teammate Max Esterson claimed the season-best second-place slot in the RLL Team McLaren, just 0.185 seconds shy of Verhagen’s time, cementing a U.S. 1-2 for the GTD PRO category.
Entering the weekend, the No. 1 BMW held a commanding 60-point lead in the GTD PRO standings over the nearest Corvette Racing entries, a gap that the pole position only widens. The two Corvettes, numbers 3 and 4, line up third and fourth on the grid, mirroring their car numbers, while newcomer Car Blanche slots the No. 68 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo into fifth place.
Heart of Racing Team dominates GTD pole positions worldwide
While Verhagen seized the GTD PRO spotlight, the Heart of Racing Team orchestrated a global pole triumph across three distinct series and continents. In the GTD class, veteran Brazilian-born driver Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello delivered a flawless lap of 1:15.130 (117.827 mph) on his third attempt, securing the pole for the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. This marks his second Motul pole of the season and the third for the car, following victories at Sebring and the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Earlier in the day, teammate Hannah Greenemeier captured the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GT Sport pole, while Kobe Pauwels won the FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 pole in São Paulo, Brazil. The triple pole feat underscores Heart of Racing’s capacity to field competitive machinery in the GT4, GTD, and LMGT3 specifications, effectively turning a single weekend into a three-continent performance showcase.
Complicating matters, a five-minute hold was imposed at the start of the GTD session because the team missed a pre-qualifying torque-sensor offset test. Barrichello joked that the tires “weren’t ready,” yet once the pit-limiter was engaged he unleashed the car’s full potential, illustrating both driver skill and the team’s engineering adaptability.
Front-runners and grid makeup for Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix
Beyond the poles, the weekend’s grid features a blend of familiar faces and substitute drivers. At CTMP, Roman De Angelis steps in for Tom Gamble in the No. 27 car while Gamble competes in the Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie in São Paulo. De Angelis, also Barrichello’s roommate, expressed pride in representing his home track for the first time.
In the Chevrolet Grand Prix, Mason Filippi follows his Michelin Pilot Challenge victory by qualifying second in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3 R, setting up an intriguing battle with former Long Beach pole-sitter Robert Wickens, who returns to the WeatherTech Championship after a hiatus. The top six starting positions now comprise a diverse manufacturer lineup—Lexus, Mercedes-AMG, Lamborghini, BMW, Aston Martin, and Chevrolet—highlighting the series’ competitive parity.
The race is slated to start at 2:10 p.m. ET, with live streaming available on Peacock in the United States and on the IMSA Official YouTube channel. Fans can anticipate a high-stakes showdown where qualifying brilliance meets race-day strategy, all set against the undulating backdrop of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
