Fogarty, Keen Capture Third Consecutive Grand-Am Poles For Saturday's Montreal 200

FOGARTY, KEEN CAPTURE THIRD CONSECUTIVE GRAND-AM POLES FOR SATURDAY'S MONTREAL 200... Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose Starting Seventh In Daytona Prototype Debut
       
MONTREAL (Aug. 28, 2009) - Jon Fogarty edged Scott Pruett by 0.012 seconds to win his season-leading fourth pole of the 2009 season Friday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and will lead the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Daytona Prototype field to the green flag for Saturday's Montreal 200 at the 2.709-mile track.

The two-hour race is set to start at 2:15 p.m. ET Saturday (SPEED, live at 2 p.m. ET).

Fogarty set his fastest time of 1:32.235 (105.734 mph) on his fifth lap in the No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley, earning his second pole at the track; he also grabbed the pole during his 2007 championship campaign. Fogarty now has four pole positions this season, giving him 12 career overall and Daytona Prototype poles, which ties him with Pruett for second all-time. The two are one behind James Weaver's 13 overall poles.

"The key was getting a good lap in early," said Fogarty, who won three races this season with co-driver Alex Gurney. "It was a goofy session. Luckily, we squeaked one in there pretty quick before things went black and green again. I got up to speed as quickly as possible and put one in there. It was pretty scrappy out there. There was more in the car, which is good to know, but of course it's going to be wet, but I think we've got a good setup in the wet, as well, so it's good to be starting up front."

Pruett, who won the pole for last year's race, was second in the No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley with a time of 1:32.247 (105.721 mph). Pruett and co-driver Memo Rojas won two races this year, and enter the event only four points ahead of Fogarty and Gurney in the Daytona Prototype standings (248-244).

"I couldn't get a rhythm going, and then the red flag came out," Pruett said. "There's a big question mark with the weather, and Memo and I are both fast in the rain. He seems to be a little tidier, and we want to do what we need to in order to win the championship."

Frenchman Romain Dumas was third in the No. 12 Verizon Wireless Porsche Riley, clocking in at 1:38.425 (105.498 mph).

Toronto's Mark Wilkins, who co-won last season's race after running as low as fourth on the white flag lap, spun into the gravel trap in Turn 6, bringing out the black flag for all competitors and giving everyone a three-and-a-half minute window to finish qualifying. However, nothing changed at the front, allowing Fogarty to stay up front. Still, Wilkins and co-driver Burt Frisselle will start fifth, behind Brian Frisselle and Max Angelelli in the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular Carl Edwards will start seventh in the No. 77 Aflac/iRacing Ford Dallara he will share with another Cup regular, Marcos Ambrose of Australia.

The only Quebec-born driver competing in the Daytona Prototype race, Jean-Francois Dumoulin, will see co-driver and Toronto native John Farano start from 15th in the No. 51 Tower Events Ford Riley.

Point Leader Keen Wins Another GT Pole

Leh Keen earned his third consecutive Acxiom GT pole position in record time - 1:39.339 (98.173 mph), which was more than three seconds faster than the previous record, set a season ago by Farnbacher Loles Racing teammate Eric Lux. Keen drove the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3, and will start the car before handing off the Porsche to point co-leader Dirk Werner. Together, the two have a 31-point lead (279-248) over defending series co-champion Kelly Collins.

"We really concentrated on the qualifying setup today to see how much speed we could get out of the car, instead of the race setup," Keen said. "With rain predicted, up front is best place to start."

Taking second was Tom Sutherland in the No. 30 3Dimesional/Click-Away Computers Mazda RX-8 he'll co-drive with Dane Cameron. Sutherland turned in a time of 1:39.402 (98.111 mph). He and Cameron make up the youngest driver pairing in the Rolex Series this weekend.

Third was Nick Ham in the No. 70 Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8 at 1:40.054 (97.471 mph) he'll share with Montreal-born and SpeedSource team owner Sylvain Tremblay, while fourth was Collins in the No. 07 Drinkin' Mate Pontiac GXP.R. Rounding out the top five was Andrew Davis in the No. 57 BryanMark Financial/Stevenson Automotive Pontiac GXP.R he shares with Robin Liddell.

Chris Green, born in Beaconsfield, Quebec - about an hour from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve - was 12th in the No. 21 Battery Tender/Find.com Pontiac GTO.R.

NASCAR Nationwide Series regular Brendan Gaughan was 10th in the No. 66 AXA/South Point Casino Porsche GT3 he drives with Andy Lally. Following the Montreal 200, only two events remain on the 2009 schedule, Sept. 20 at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City, Utah, and Oct. 10 with the Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

For additional information: J.J. O'Malley, (386) 451-6720, jjomalley@grand-am.com