Participating in his first professional race, Taylor Hacquard, of Surrey, British Columbia, led the World Speed Motorsports contingent, qualifying thirteenth overall with a fast time of 1:10.710 for Round Five of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at a soggy Portland International Raceway.
“I had to serve a penalty for the first five minutes of qualifying and in that time the other drivers had dried the track a bit so I was able to get up to speed quickly,” the seventeen year old driver of the #90 Wolfe Auto Group World Speed Motorsports Mazda explained. “I was hoping for a spot in the top ten but a red flag came out while I was coming down the back straight on a flying lap and then the rain started picking up again.”
Fellow Canadian Chris Cumming, from Vancouver, British Columbia, posted the second fastest time for the team, lapping the 1.946-mile circuit in a time of 1:10.918 in the #46 90-degree Software World Speed Motorsports Mazda to finish seventeenth overall.
Richard Fullerton, from Aspen, Colorado, who captured the previous round of the West Coast Championship at Miller Motorsports Park, will line up nineteenth overall in the #45 RBF Capital Mazda, while Dave House will start in the twenty-second spot in the #86 Brocade Mazda after setting a fast time of 1:12.803.
Claudio Cornali, from Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Stan Kohls, from Hayden Lake, Idaho, will comprise row twelve of the grid after setting times of 1:13.713 and 1:13.974 respectively.
San Francisco native Patrick O’Neill will start from the twenty-sixth spot on the grid in his #64 O’Neill Construction Mazda and Frank Bain will roll off from the twenty-seventh spot in the #41 FX Racing Monster Energy Drink Mazda.
Fielding eight drivers for the event, World Speed Motorsports is responsible for over a quarter of the grid for the event, which is also being scored as a round of the Star Mazda West Coast Championship.
Forecasts call for the rain to continue to pick up as the day continues with moderate rain for the scheduled start of the event at 5:00 PM Pacific Time.