Bowmanville, Ontario (12 July 2014) – Action Express Racing got off to a strong start in the team’s Canadian Tire Motorsport Park debut when Christian Fittipaldi wheeled the No. 5 Action Express Racing Whelen Corvette Daytona Prototype to a fast time of 1:10.298–seconds to take fifth on the grid during qualifying on Saturday. He will open the 2.75-hour race on Sunday before handing the car over Joao Barbosa who will take the team to the checkered flag.
Despite neither driver nor the team having ever turned a single lap on the challenging 2.459-mile Canadian road course prior to practice on Friday, the group was quickly up to speed. The squad was fourth fastest in the first practice, second quick in the second session, and then third in the third practice.
Fittipaldi who is tabbed to qualify and start the car in each IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race fought a bit of a shift in balance on the car through the qualifying run as the track conditions changed. He set his fast time on Lap 9 of 12 laps run and was the second fastest Daytona Prototype machine.
“All in all it was a great effort,” said Fittipaldi. “We changed the car a little bit from the last practice and we improved it in some ways but we lost time in other ways. The No. 90 car did a stunning lap – they were really hooked up. I’m still very confident for the race. I’m happy that we are ahead of the No. 10 and No. 01 cars which are direct competitors of us in the championship. We knew the P2 cars were going to be strong here (at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) so we’re not surprised at all. Our aim was to qualify on the second row and we were just a little bit off of that but tomorrow is what counts. We’ll have to take it easy and make sure we score points. We’ll have to see what the conditions are tomorrow. Everyone is calling for rain so we’ll definitely have to take it easy.”
The natural terrain road course is very fast and allows no room for error. As Fittipaldi and Barbosa took to the track for the first time, the duo was thrilled with the speed that the track has on offer.
“My first laps at this track were awesome,” said Barbosa of his debut. “It’s a really fast track. It is very technical and demanding and our Corvette from Action Express is running well. It’s very high speed and I love the track so far. I’m looking forward to the race!”
Action Express Racing will have a 20-minute warmup Sunday morning prior to the 2.75-hour race which goes green at 2:05 PM ET. FOX Sports 1 will carry live coverage of the event beginning at 2:00 PM ET.
MRN Radio will also broadcast live coverage on www.mrn.com. Live timing and scoring is available at www.imsa.com.
