(PORTLAND, Ore.) – Mason Filippi secured the pole for Saturday’s TC America TCR/TCA race in an exciting qualifying session Friday afternoon at Portland International Raceway, part of the 59th Annual Rose Cup Races presented by Fastlife.TV. Bryan Putt will start on pole in the TCR Cup division, while Chris Haldeman will start at the front of the TCA division grid.
The 15-minute session was held under sunny, 80-degree Fahrenheit conditions. Early on, FCP Euro’s Michael Hurczyn in the #71 Golf GTI TCR jumped to the top with a 1:20.293. Filippi, piloting the Copeland Motorsports #12 Hyundai Veloster N soon after slotted into the top spot with a 1:19.137 followed by Hurczyn’s teammate Nate Vincent in the #72 Golf GTI TCR who posted a 1:20.098.
In TCR Cup, Christian Cole in the #27 McCann Racing Audi Sport RS3 LMS (DSG) led the division with a 1:21.292. Putt, driving the #15 eEuroparts.com ROWE Racing Audi Sport RS3 LMS (DSG) though moved to the top soon after Cole posted his time with a quick 1:20.915 of his own.
In TCA, X-Factor Racing’s Chris Haldeman in the #69 Honda Civic Si posted a 1:26.797 to sit atop the division with Mark Pombo, in the MINI JCW Team # 59 MINI Cooper (1:27.069) slotted into second.
Vincent would then post a 1:19.187 only fractions of a second off the top mark set by Filippi. James Walker in the #34 Risi Competizione Alfa Romeo Giulietta would then match Vincent’s mark with an identical lap of 1:19.187. Hurczyn, the division’s championship points leader coming into the weekend, then posted a 1:19.240 to slot into 4th for Saturday’s race.
In TCR Cup, championship points leader Putt helped solidify his top staring position with a 1:20.641. At the checkered, Filippi’s time held for his second pole of the 2019 season. Vincent and Walker will start second and third respectively for Saturday’s race. Putt qualified seventh overall and on the grid in TCR Cup, ahead of Stephen Vajda in the #18 EXR Team by Premat Audi Sport RS3 LMS (DSG) (1:20.983) and Christian Cole in the #27 McCann Racing Audi Sport RS3 LMS (DSG) (1:21.100).
Haldeman’s time held for 10th overall on the grid and atop the TCA grid ahead of Pombo and division championship points leader Nick Wittmer, in the #91 TechSport Racing Subaru BRZ tS who qualified third in TCA with a 1:27.075 (12th on the overall grid).
Results are provisional until posted final. The weekend’s first TCR/TCA race (Round 9 for TCR/TCR Cup, and Round 7 for TCA) is scheduled to start Saturday at 4 pm PDT. All races will be streamed live on TCAmerica.us. CBS Sports Network coverage for TC America races at Portland airs July 24 starting at 7 pm EDT. Check your local listings for additional broadcast time and channel information.