Verhagen Earns Maiden IMSA Pole in No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW at CTMP

In a Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) qualifying session that saw a variety of drivers and manufacturers atop the time charts through the first half of the 15-minute session, American Neil Verhagen threw down a lap of 1 minute, 15.046 seconds (117.959 mph) with nine minutes left in the session and held on the remainder of the way to earn the first Motul Pole Award of his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship career in qualifying for Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Driving the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo, Verhagen’s pole was not only the first of his IMSA career, but also the first pole at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Verhagen’s pole comes nearly 48 years after team owner Paul Miller won a six-hour, World Championship for Makes/Trans-Am race at CTMP (then known as “Mosport”) in August 1977.

“Yeah, it’s phenomenal,” said Verhagen of his first pole. “I mean, I’ve been trying now a couple of times. I think this is the fourth qualifying that I’ve done. I tried once in Indy last year and then three times (this year). So yeah, I’ve been really itching for it. I’ve been trying my hardest, got close a couple of times, but just a couple tenths off.

“Now, I was able to finally put it together and it feels great. I threw everything at this one and it just all worked, it stuck. It was one of those laps that everything just feels so good. I can’t thank the Paul Miller Racing guys and BMW Motorsport enough for providing me this car that was able to do this. I’m thrilled to have my first pole position.”

Verhagen’s pole comes on the heels of Paul Miller Racing’s first victory of the season, which teammates Dan Harper and Max Hesse achieved in the No. 48 BMW at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen last month. Verhagen will look to make it two in a row for the team alongside his No. 1 BMW co-driver Madison Snow in Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute race.

Joining Verhagen on the GTD PRO front row will be No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 driver Aaron Telitz, who turned in a best qualifying lap of 1:15.309 (117.547 mph). Telitz shares his ride with Ben Barnicoat, who together are seeking the Vasser Sullivan squad’s first victory of the 2025 season.

Antonio Garcia put the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R third on the grid with a lap of 1:15.334 (117.508 mph). Garcia and co-driver Alexander Sims won the GTD PRO class in last year’s Chevrolet Grand Prix and head into Sunday’s race atop the WeatherTech Championship class point standings.

All 10 GTD PRO qualifiers were covered by less than one second (0.954 seconds from front to back to be exact).

Hawksworth Makes it Four Straight CTMP Poles for Vasser Sullivan and Lexus

Jack Hawksworth and the Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 race cars are no strangers to Motul Pole Awards at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Coming into Saturday’s Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) session, Hawksworth had already earned poles at the venue in the GTD class in 2018 and 2023 in GTD PRO. And the team came into qualifying riding a streak of three consecutive poles at CTMP, with Frankie Montecalvo’s GTD poles in 2022 and 2024 sandwiching Hawksworth’s 2023 pole.

The trend continued Saturday afternoon on the lightning-quick, 2.459-mile Canadian road course. Hawksworth threw down a 1-minute, 15.101-second (117.873 mph) lap in the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 to score the 13th Motul Pole Award of his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship career.

“It’s really good,” Hawksworth said. “It gives us a good set of points today and good track position for tomorrow. I don’t know what the weather is going to do, but we’ve got the best place to start from. Obviously, we had a great race at Watkins Glen until we didn’t, so we’re going to try to put that one right this weekend.”

To do so, the team will need to enter unchartered waters at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Thus far, neither the team nor Hawksworth have been able to convert any of their poles to race victories. The team’s best result so far at the venue was a third-place showing in GTD in 2019, with Hawksworth’s best run to date a fourth-place GTD PRO run in 2023.

Hawksworth believes he may have a secret weapon in co-driver Parker Thompson in Sunday’s race.

 “I mean, we’ve won a lot of races (at other venues),” Hawksworth said. “We’ve got to do what we’ve always tried to do and just hope it plays out this time at this place. We’ve got a Canadian (Thompson) in the car now and we’re hoping that’s the good luck charm.

Current WeatherTech Championship GTD points leader Russell Ward will start second in class on Sunday with a lap of 1:15.319 (117.532 mph) in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 he shares with co-driver Philip Ellis. Ward and Ellis are also the reigning GTD champions in the WeatherTech Championship.

Canadian fan favorite Robert Wickens will start third on the strength of a lap at 1:15.876 (116.669 mph) aboard the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R equipped with a Bosch hand control system.

 It was Wickens’ best qualifying run to date since entering WeatherTech Championship GTD competition in April’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and positions the Guelph, Ontario native to add to his impressive CTMP record. Wickens previously won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Touring Car (TCR) class at the venue in 2022 and 2024.

“It’s actually my first time qualifying here in IMSA, so it’s very special,” said Wickens, who will share his Corvette with Alec Udell. “I was supposed to qualify here in 2022, but my son (Wesley) was born the day before, so I wasn’t even in the country during qualifying! And then the other two TCR races, I was the finishing driver there, so yeah, this place is special on a qualy lap. It was a lot of fun.”

Eight different manufacturers occupied the top eight positions in GTD qualifying, separated by 1.326 seconds.

Results are HERE