Friday, June 13, 2008
Gabby Chaves has not lost a race yet this year...
BOWMANVILLE, Canada – At Mosport, Gabby Chaves put himself in the best position possible to extend his winning streak by taking pole during qualifying for Saturday's race one. Chaves has won three of this year's first four races – every one he's entered. Chaves missed round two at Sebring, having won round one the day before, as the 14-year-old Colombian had a prior commitment to race in Malaysia. So in three starts he's won three times, including both races (rounds three and four) at VIR in April. Chaves wasted no time putting in his flyer, turning a 1:31.520 about nine minutes into the session. A bunch of the frontrunners were looking to set their best times toward the end of the session as the fuel tanks emptied and they cooled their BFG R1 slicks, but with 6 minutes to go Peter Tucker got it wrong in Turn Nine and collected the wall, putting an end to the qualifier. Second-quick Josef Newgarden put his best time in on the last green flag lap – he was only a 10th away at 1:31.626 -- while third-fastest Chris Holmes's best was on what turned out to be his second to last hot lap. Completing row two was Shoot-out winner Conner De Phillippi. He had turned the fastest lap of the day, a 1:31.174, in morning practice, but the heat of the afternoon and the lack of opportunity at putting in a flyer at the end of qualifying saw his best time a 1:31.906. Next were points leader Felipe Polehtto, Conor Daly, Mark Bumgarner, surprise returnee Adam Tran, Hayden Duerson and in tenth, Stevan McAleer. Friday, June 13, a.m. practice times BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda Mosport International Raceway, 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course 1. Conner De Phillippi, 1:31.174, 97.093 mph 2. Josef Newgarden, 1:31.340 3. Mark Bumgarner, 1:31.529 4. Gabby Chaves, 1:31.537 5. Hayden Duerson, 1:31.629 6. Conor Daly, 1:31.727 7. Chris Holmes, 1:32.064 8. Felipe Polehtto, 1:32.086 9. Stevan McAleer, 1:32.289 10. Fabio Orsolon, 1:32.467 11. Adam Tran, 1:32.655 12. Gustavo Linares, 1:33.412 13. Marcio Pasaneli, 1:33.485 14. Victor Pedrosa, 1:33.651 15. Lee Carpentier, 1:033.693 16. Tyler Schaal, 1:33.869 17. Nick Tonkin, 1:34.077 18. Peter Tucker, 1:34.903 19. Dom Bastien, 1:36.781 Friday, June 13, starting grid for Saturday race one following p.m. Q1 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda Mosport International Raceway, 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course 1. Gabby Chaves, 1:31.520, 96.726 mph 2. Josef Newgarden, 1:31.626 3. Chris Holmes, 1:31.838 4. Conner De Phillippi, 1:31.906 5. Felipe Polehtto, 1:32.222 6. Conor Daly, 1:32.411 7. Mark Bumgarner, 1:32.414 8. Adam Tran, 1:32.490 9. Hayden Duerson, 1:32.634 10. Stevan McAleer, 1:32.710 11. Nick Tonkin, 1:32.830 12. Fabio Orsolon, 1:32.995 13. Tyler Schaal, 1:33.694 14. Lee Carpentier, 1:033.798 15. Marcio Pasaneli, 1:34.084 16. Victor Pedrosa, 1:34.352 17. Gustavo Linares, 1:34.616 18. Peter Tucker, 1:35.097 19. Dom Bastien, 1:35.991
Connor De Phillippi has so far put up the fastest lap of the weekend, a 1:31.174 in Friday morning practice. In qualifying for the weekend's first race, he was fourth fastest.
Josef Newgarden was second fastest in practice and second-fastest in qualifying for race one. Rest assured Newgy will not let Chaves get away...
The Philippines' Mark Bumgarner lost almost a full second between practice and qualifying, but he'll still start in the fourth row in race one.
Chaves, cool as a cucumber...
Rick Roso words & pics
