----Ricky Taylor's quest to tie Jon Fogarty for consecutive poles in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series record books poles was denied Friday, as the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing driver stormed to the overall pole for Saturday's Montreal 200.
Fogarty, who earned seven straight pole positions in he and co-driver Alex Gurney's championship-winning 2007 season, turned a best time of 1:32.999 in the No. 99 Riley-Chevrolet. The two-time Daytona Prototype champion edged out 22-year-old Taylor by 0.682 seconds.
"Getting the pole, in itself, is the best thing about today," Fogarty said. "The record is nice and everything, but it's not what we come out here to do. We come out here to be the fastest in each and every session and ultimately in the race.
"Having a fast car in qualifying bodes well for the race. But I won't disregard the fast that I felt a little bit extra pressure. Ricky has been doing an awesome job all year and they've been really hard to beat in qualifying. We think we learned something from them over the last couple of races that we tried in this qualifying session. It seemed to work out well for us."
The secret to success, according to Fogarty, was to wait until the closing moments of the 15-minute session to set the quick time. It proved to be the key of qualifying today as both drivers' best laps came just before the checkered flag flew.
While Fogarty claimed his fourth pole in five starts at Montreal, Taylor's 1:33.681 lap time, set on his final lap, broke his six-race qualifying streak dating back to Lime Rock Park in May.
"I think part of the reason we're not on pole today is a little bit down to me," Taylor said. "I don't think I got quite as much as I could out of the tires when they were at their best early in the session. I did my fastest lap the last lap of the session, so I don't think I got the most out of it.
"Of course, I'm disappointed," he added. "It's nice to have something to look back on. I'm just really happy I had that run of six. It was pretty special and really fortunate to have such a good team behind me in the SunTrust guys."
David Donohue put the No. 9 Action Express Racing Riley-Porsche third on the grid, ahead of the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Coyote-Chevrolet of Paul Edwards, who suffered a spin and light contact with the wall during his qualifying run.
The No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Riley-Porsche of Ryan Dalziel rounded out the top five, which was separated by 1.436 seconds.
In GT, Boris Said scored his first pole of the season, leading a repeat front row from last year's race here at Montreal. Said's Marsh Racing Corvette clocked a 1:42.217 lap time, outrunning the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche of Andrew Davis by 0.313 seconds in a heated duel that saw the top spot exchange hands four times.
For the Teddy Marsh-led Whelen crew, Said's pole run capped off a remarkable recovery after having to revert to their backup car following last weekend's qualifying accident by NASCAR star Joey Logano.
"It was a great effort for the Whelen guys," Said said. "We lost our primary car last weekend at Watkins Glen, so they did a lot of work to get last year's car as updated as they could. It's really good. The pole was nice, but this track is really, really tough. It's tough on brakes, tough on gearboxes and drivers. We have a long way to go to win the race but it's nice to have a small victory today." Said will share the wheel of the Corvette with Tasmanian Owen Kelly in Saturday's two-hour race.
While Davis lost out on the battle for the class pole, he and co-driver Leh Keen will be in prime position for their title quest. The Brumos Racing duo trail Autohaus Motorsports' Jordan Taylor and Bill Lester by seven points heading into Saturday. And according to Davis, it's all or nothing at this point.
"You can certainly feel more pressure now," Davis said. "We have two events to go. For us, it's gloves off. We have to win. We have to go for it and have to finish ahead of the 88 [Autohaus car]. We need to finish ahead of everybody, really."
Ronnie Bremer put the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R third on the GT grid, ahead of the James Gue-driven No. 41 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8. The No. 42 Team Sahlen's Mazda RX-8 of Wayne Nonnamaker completed the top-five in class.