Qualifying for the NASCAR Canada Series NAPA 100 at Complexe ICAR took place across three groups on Saturday afternoon, with North Shore drivers setting the pace in each group.
Saint-Jérôme’s Dave Coursol opened the session by posting the fastest lap in Group 1 behind the wheel of the No. 54 Carquest/Qualité Réfrigération/Assainiteck Dodge.
In Group 2, Lachenaie’s Alex Tagliani went to the top of the timesheets aboard the No. 80 St-Hubert/Bet GRW/UPS Store/Olymel Chevrolet.
The final group saw Terrebonne’s Alex Guenette pick up where he left off in practice. After leading the earlier session, Guenette delivered the fastest lap of Group 3 and the quickest time overall in the No. 39 DLGL/GL Électricité-Automatisation Chevrolet to claim the 3E3 Spark Plugs Pole Award for the NAPA 100.
“I’m very happy to have secured the pole position,” said Guenette. “I think we’ve finished second quite a few times over the years, whether in practice, qualifying or races, so I’m really happy that we were able to dominate practice and then qualify by half a second. I’ve been doing the same thing for ten years, but this year I have an incredible car that allows me to show what I’m capable of. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to drive a car this fast. Today is very satisfying, but the job is far from finished. All the guys are hungry for wins, but I won’t hide the fact that if there’s one person who really wants to win here this weekend, it’s me. With the speed we have, it won’t be easy, but it won’t be easy for them either. It’s going to be a good race, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
The green flag for the NAPA 100 is set to wave at 5:40 p.m. ET at Complexe ICAR. Fans can catch all the action live on REV TV, TVA Sports 2 and the NASCAR Canada YouTube channel.