CTMP pole adds to Canadian Tire Series career total

Andrew Ranger collected his 13th career pole in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 in record fashion in Saturday qualifying for Sunday's season opener.

The pole position for the Pinty’s presents the Clarington 200 is the fourth in seven appearances at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for the Roxton Pond, Que., driver.

Ranger posted a lap of 1 minute, 22.956 seconds in his No. 27 Mopar/Exide Dodge around the 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course for an average speed of 106.712 to eclipse the previous series track record that J.R. Fitzpatrick established in this event a year ago.

Fitzpatrick, who was fastest in practice, qualified second at 1:23.111 (106.513). Fitzpatrick is the series' career pole leader with 14.

Jeff Lapcevich qualified third at 1:23.237 (106.352), followed by Jason Hathaway and L.P. Dumoulin. Dumoulin swept the two races at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park road course last season.

In addition to Ranger, Fitzpatrick and Lapcevich were also under the previous qualifying record of 1:23.286 that Fitzpatrick recorded on May 18, 2013.

Peter Klutt, Robin Buck, rookies Luc Lesage and Marc-Antoine Camirand, and defending series champion Scott Steckly rounded out the top 10.

The Pinty’s presents the Clarington 200 is scheduled to take the green flag Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Photo by Ramesh Bayney