Montreal qualifying

QUALIFYING

2:29 p.m.  - -         Qualifying begins under hot, humid, partly cloudy skies,
and temperatures in  the upper-70s   not even a light breeze.

2:31 p.m. - - #14 WEST makes nose-to-side contact with #85 KNAPP’s right side as both cars are entering the hairpin in turn 10 - #85 KNAPP stops on course and requires a tow - #14 WEST returns to pit lane with extensive left front wheel and suspension damage

2:44 p.m. - - #77 SZORTYKA makes heavy contact with #71 DeSOTO in turn 14 - #77 SZORTYKA suffers extensive left front wing damage - both cars retire from the session - #6 ALLERS retires from the session with a cracked header

2:53 p.m. - - #9 FRAZIER pulls off course driver’s right in turn 10 with a reported fire on-board driver out and okay - safety crews extinguish light flames - driver returns to car and resumes on course

3:07 p.m. - - #7 BINDER spins and stops in the gravel pits of turn 10 - driver out and okay, but is forced to retire from the session

3:10 p.m. - - With four minutes remaining in the session, light rain begins to dampen the track

3:14 p.m. - - Session ends with: #33 BERTRAND GODIN, of St. Hyacinthe, Que., wins his FIRST CAREER Atlantic pole with a TRACK RECORD time of 1:38.687 = 100.20 mph in the Player’s Forsythe Racing Team-prepared Ralt RT-40.

#50 KENNY WILDEN, of Burlington, Ont., will start on the outside pole at 1:39.396 = 99.492 mph in the P-1 Racing-TrizecHahn/Slick 50 Ralt RT-41.

#29 CASE MONTGOMERY, of Salinas, Calif., is third fastest at 1:39.471 = 99.417 mph in the Sandy Dells Racing-Microsoft/Wall Date Ralt RT-41.

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The top-nine qualifiers each posted a time that was under the previous track record of 1:40.373 = 96.480 mph set by Patrick Carpentier in the Lynx Racing-prepared Ralt RT-41 on June 14, 1996.

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KENNY WILDEN no stranger to the Gilles-Villeneuve racing circuit. In fact, he has been racing here since 1988 when he ran in the Honda Michelin series. He was a GM Player’s competitor between 1989 and 1992, and then ran in five Atlantic races in 1993 including Montreal. For the past three years, Wilden has raced on the Ile Notre-Dame in the Enduro Series. Saturday s race will be his 10th career Atlantic race start.

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