Bowmanville, Ont. (8 July 2017) – Action Express Racing took to the track for qualifying on Saturday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park targeting a return to victory lane as well as a second IMSA WeatherTech victory in as many weeks.
The 15-minute session saw the team improve through lap after lap, closing out the qualifying session by securing sixth and eighth on the grid for Sunday’s Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix (FS1 12:00 ET LIVE broadcast), which is Round 7 of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa will be looking to make it a two-win week for the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R. Fittipaldi took the wheel for qualifying, locking in a third row start with a fast lap time of 1:09.173-seconds on the 2.459-mile circuit. The Mustang Sampling entry scored a victory in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen last weekend, and the Fittipaldi + Barbosa combination took second at CTMP last year as part of an Action Express Racing 1-2 result.
“Although we are starting sixth I think we have made some progress on the car since practice,” Fittipaldi said. “But it is a long race tomorrow, and a lot of things can happen. We have started a lot of races from third, fourth or fifth and we have won. We will work hard and try to make it better for the race. Thanks to the Mustang Sampling crew and Cadillac for all the help.”
The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R of Dane Cameron and Eric Curran will start from eighth on the grid after Curran posted a quick time of 1:09.895-seconds as the duo look to repeat their 2016 race-winning performance.
“Overall the Whelen Cadillac is heading in the right direction,” Curran said. “I haven’t done that many laps here this weekend, and we just don’t have a great handle on the Whelen Cadillac yet. We are fighting a lack of overall grip and haven’t made the big jump that we need to. We will keep working on it and keep tweaking away at it to be stronger in the race tomorrow.”
Sunday’s 8:50 AM warm-up session will be the final opportunity to test adjustments for the Action Express Racing Cadillac machines, with the two hour, forty-minute race set to go green at 12:05 PM (FS1 LIVE broadcast at 12:00 PM ET).
Starting Positions, Mobil 1 Grand Prix
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
Action Express Racing:
P6/1:09.173 J. Barbosa / C. Fittipaldi No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R
P8/1:09.895 D. Cameron / E. Curran No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R
