Bowmanville, Ontario - Michael DiMeo (Touring Car), Jason Wolfe (Touring Car A) and Brian Price (Touring Car B-Spec) have secured the Round 2 pole positions for the Victoria Day SpeedFest Weekend, part of a three-race weekend for the Pirelli World Challenge Championships at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Round 2 is the makeup race for the race at Barber Motorsports Park, moved due to severe weather.

 

DiMeo, of Toronto in the No. 71 LiUNA Honda Civic Si for Compass 360Racing, inherited the pole at Round 1 at Barber after Jason Saini's car was found out of compliance in post-qualifying technical inspection. But on Friday, the Round 1 race winner laid down the fastest lap of the weekend on a dry track, at 1:32.788.

 

Times were anywhere from 13 or more seconds quicker in the dry conditions than the damp conditions that occurred during both Thursday and Friday's practice sessions.

 

"I have been coming to this track a lot over the years for karting, but yesterday's and today's sessions are the first with the Compass360 Racing Civic Si at CTMP and with these track conditions," said DiMeo. "I definitely had an advantage in that sense, but I'm still learning how the car handles. We are doing well, it definitely helps to have a good team and to have a sponsor like LiUNA supporting me for this weekend."

 

Jon Miller, of Tustin, Calif., qualified second in the No. 68 Titan Motorsports/Loudbasstard/BeTheMatch.org Honda Civic Si at 1:33.272. Miller, driving for Cawley Motorsports, opted to sit out both practice sessions citing the wet track.

 

In third on the grid is Tom Kwok, of Markham, Ontario,. in the No. 63 M&S Quality Produce Honda Civic Si, at 1:33.467. Kwok finished on the podium in both of his series starts in 2013, on the streets of Toronto at Exhibition Place.

 

Wolfe, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, took his first career series pole in TCA at 1:35.900 in the No. 36 Kinetic Motorsports Kia Forte Koup. Wolfe paced both practice sessions and finished on the podium in his series debut at Barber three weeks ago, when he ended Round 1 in third place.

 

"The guys put in a ton of work on the car so I gotta thank them a ton, they got the car perfect, just spot on," said Wolfe. "Mark Wilkins came out when we first got here, he helped me out a lot, really broke down the track for me, gave me a few tricks and tips on what to do here and there, and that helped out a ton, I couldn't have done this without him."

 

Ernie Francis Jr., of Dania, Fla., makes his first start in TCA from second place in the No. 98 Breathless Performance Mazda MX-5. Francis Jr. set a best lap of 1:36.144. In third on the TCA grid is Shea Holbrook, of Groveland, Fla., in the No. 67 TRUECar/Lucas Oil/Radium Honda Civic Si for Shea Racing at 1:36.475.

 

TCB sees Price, of Middletown, Va., in the No. 51 Unlimited Racing/RP Performance Honda Fit, on his first career series pole at 1:45.143. After winning Round 1 at Barber, Price seeks an encore in Round 2.

 

"This is a real drivers track, you have to bring your big boy pants to run this track," said Price. "You are flat out on most corners where you would not think you are and you gotta just hope it sticks at the bottom. The honda fit was really good, handled good, had decent power, I can't thank my sponsors enough."

 

Second on the grid is Nathan Stacy, of Owassa, Okla. The 14-year-old, in the No. 14 TSG/Ford Racing Ford Fiesta, set his best time of 1:46.533. In third is local driver P.J. Groenke, of Toronto, in the No. 66 Verax.ca/Tundra/Mulligan Gold Honda Fit at 1:46.742.

 

The 30-minute combined session ended several minutes early for a car stopped off track, that was then removed.

 

Friday's Round 2 from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for TC, TCA and TCB goes green at 5:25 p.m. ET, with live streaming set to start on world-challengetv.com at 5:15 p.m. ET.

 

Starting lineup for Friday's Pirelli World Challenge Championships TC/TCB RND 2 race, part of the Victoria Day Weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, with position, class, car number in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, fastest lap time, and speed in miles per hour.

 

1, TC, (71), Michael DiMeo(R), Toronto, Ontario, Honda Civic Si, 1:32.788, 95.404.
2, TC, (68), Jon Miller, North Tustin, Calif., Honda Civic SI, 1:33.272, 94.909.
3, TC, (63), Tom Kwok, Markham, Ontario, Honda Civic Si, 1:33.467, 94.711.
4, TC, (88), Gary Kwok, Markham, Ontario, Honda Civic Si, 1:33.731, 94.444.
5, TC, (28), Jason Saini, Chicago, Ill., Mazda MX-5, 1:33.788, 94.387.
6, TC, (72), Karl Thomson(R), Toronto, Ontario, Honda Civic Si, 1:33.915, 94.259.
7, TC, (11), Adam Poland(R), Mt. Vernon, Texas, Mazda MX-5, 1:35.818, 92.387.

 

1, TCA, (36), Jason Wolfe(R), Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Kia Forte Koup, 1:35.900, 92.308.
2, TCA, (98), Ernie Francis,Jr, Dania, Fla., MAZDA MX-5, 1:36.144, 92.074.
3, TCA, (67), Shea Holbrook, Groveland, Fla., Honda Civic Si, 1:36.475, 91.758.
4, TCA, (38), Russell Smith, Buford, Ga., Kia Forte Koup, 1:37.941, 90.385.
5, TCA, (13), Jason Cherry(R), Gambrills, Md., Mazda MX-5, 1:38.122, 90.218.
6, TCA, (97), Robby Foley(R), Randolph, N.J., Mazda RX-8, 1:39.867, 88.641.

 

1, TCB, (51), Brian Price(R), Middleton, Va., Honda Fit, 1:45.143, 84.194.
2, TCB, (14), Nathan Stacy(R), Owassa, Okla., Ford Fiesta, 1:46.533, 83.095.
3, TCB, (66), PJ Groenke, Toronto, Canada, Honda Fit, 1:46.742, 82.932.
4, TCB, (57), Andrei Kisel(R), N. Vancouver, British Columbia, Mini Cooper, 1:46.920, 82.794.
5, TCB, (00), Nick Wittmer, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Fiat 500, 1:47.019, 82.718.
6, TCB, (65), Paul Holton(R), Tallahassee, Fla., Honda Fit, 1:47.527, 82.327.
7, TCB, (7), Jason Fichter(R), Jupiter, Fla., Mini Cooper, 1:47.847, 82.083.
8, TCB, (31), Chris Capaldi, Imlay City, Mich., Ford Fiesta, 1:48.954, 81.249.
9, TCB, (24), George Calfo, Atlanta, Ga., MINI Cooper, 1:49.475, 80.862.
10, TCB, (37), Tyler Palmer, San Diego, Calif., Mini Cooper, 1:49.618, 80.756.
11, TCB, (78), Jim Cleveland, Brisbane Australia, , Mini Cooper, 1:50.164, 80.356.