Qualifying session marks the return of Porsche “One-Make” series to Canada after 20 year absence

CALABOGIE, May 14, 2011 – Despite the rain, fog and the general overall murkiness, the vanguard of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada took to the track today for the very first official practice and qualifying session in the new series’ history.

The Calabogie race is the inaugural round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada series and the hardy group of spectators in attendance for today’s practice and qualifying were treated to some classic wet-weather on-track action. 911-based GT3 cars will race twice tomorrow on the magnificent new Calabogie Motorsports Park.

The cars rolled off in a moderate, steady rain. Kanata, ON native Perry Bortolotti quickly came to grips with the difficult conditions. After eight laps, he parked his SpeedMerchants/Fiorano Racing GT3 Cup car in the pits with a time of 2:21.051 and waited for the other competitors to match his time.

Bortolotti looked like he was going to take the series’ historic first pole uncontested when, two laps later, Toronto-based Marco Cirone ripped off a lap of 2:21.784 to grab second place. Bortolotti prepared himself to retake the pole if necessary, but Cirone ran out of time when the session came to an end a lap later.

The top six qualifiers for the first Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada will line up for tomrrow’s first race as follows:

1. Perry Bortolotti           2:21.051      Cee-Jay Micro, LTD/SpeedMerchants - Fiorano Racing
2. Marco Cirone             2:21.784      Italform Limited/6th Gear Racing
3. Martin Harvey             2:26.103      McDonalds/Wingho Motorsport
4. James Hoddinott      2:26.308      SpeedMerchants/SpeedMerchants - Fiorano Racing
5. Robert Seitz               2:27.743      SpeedMerchants/SpeedMerchants - Fiorano Racing
6. Shaun McKaigue      2:32.463      Fer-Pal Infrastructure-Agua Pipe/Fiorano Racing

The first race of the Calabogie Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada will begin at 10:00 AM on Sunday, followed by a second race at 2:00 PM.

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge has become a fixture on the racing scene around the world. Run on every continent except Antarctica and Africa, it is estimated that the GT3 Cup Challenge will hold 120 events and 255 championship rounds in 2011. The concept of a Porsche based one-make cup series dates back to 1986, with the Rothmans-Porsche Challenge Series for normally-aspirated Porsche 944s in Canada and the Porsche Turbo Cup Championship for 944 Turbos in Germany.

The series is divided into three classes; Platinum Cup, featuring the more powerful 2011 and 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, Gold Cup, which includes 2005½ - 2009 Porsches, and Silver Cup for 2002 – 2005½ 996 Porsches. All three classes run on Michelin tires.

Three events comprise the inaugural season of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada: May 14-15 at Calabogie Motorsports Park (Calabogie, Ontario), June 3-5 at Circuit ICAR (Mirabel, Quebec) and ending the season on the same racing card as their American counterparts July 23-24 at the Mobil 1 Presents the Grand Prix of Mosport. The season’s overall champion will be presented with a Tudor Heritage Chronograph, provided by Rolex Canada.

Additional information, including competitor regulations, is available at http://www.imsaracing.net.