Mason Filippi (No.12 Copeland Motorsports Hyundai Veloster N, photo above) secured the overall 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 (No.15 eEurosports.com ROWE Racing Audi Sport RS3 LMS [DSG]) will start on pole in the TCR Cup division, while Chris Haldeman (No.69 X-Factor Racing Honda Civic Si) 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 No.71 Golf GTI TCR jumped to the top with a 1m20.293s. But Filippi soon after slotted into the top spot with a 1m19.137s followed by Hurczyn’s teammate Nate Vincent in the No.72 Golf GTI TCR who posted a 1m20.098s.

In TCR Cup, Christian Cole in the No.27 McCann Racing Audi Sport RS3 LMS (DSG) led the division with a 1m21.292s. Putt, though, moved to the top soon after Cole posted his time with a quick 1m20.915s of his own.

In TCA, X-Factor Racing’s Haldeman posted a 1m26.797s to sit atop the division with Mark Pombo, in the MINI JCW Team No.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 No.34 Risi Competizione Alfa Romeo Giulietta would then match Vincent’s mark with an identical lap of 1m19.187s. Hurczyn, the division’s championship points leader coming into the weekend, then posted a 1m19.240s to slot into fourth for Saturday’s race.

In TCR Cup, championship points leader Putt helped solidify his top staring position with a 1m20.641s. 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 No.18 EXR Team by Premat Audi Sport RS3 LMS (DSG) and Christian Cole in the No.27 McCann Racing Audi Sport RS3 LMS (DSG).

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 No.91 TechSport Racing Subaru BRZ tS who qualified third in TCA (12th on the overall grid).

Schwartz scores TC pole at Portland

Johan Schwartz (No.80 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M240iR Cup) posted the fastest time in Friday afternoon’s TC qualifying session to score his third pole of 2019 for Saturday’s Round 7 at PIR. Schwartz’s teammate and Portland native Steve Streimer will start second.

Early in the 15-minute session, Tom Capizzi, in Auto Technic Racing’s No. 52 BMW M240iR Cup, went to the top of the charts with a 1m23.209s, but soon after, Schwartz, the TC championship points leader coming into the weekend, eclipsed the top time with a strong 1m22.802s.

Streimer, in the No.81 Rooster Hall Racing BMW, running at his home track, slotted in right behind his teammate with a 1m23.158s. Schwartz then improved his time to 1m22.710s, while Streimer posted a 1m23.086s. Times held until the last minute of the session when Toby Grahovec in the No.26 Classic BMW BMW M240iR Cup — who sits only 10-points behind Schwartz in the standings entering the weekend — posted a 1m23.205s to slot into third.

At the checkered, the top three times held. Capizzi’s earlier top time held for fourth on the grid. Auto Technic Racing’s Robert Nimkoff in the No.20 BMW M240iR Cup, posted a 1m23.234s to round out the top five for Saturday’s race.

The first TC race of the weekend is scheduled to go green Saturday, July 13 at 10:25 a.m. PDT.

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 p.m. 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 p.m. EDT. Check your local listings for additional broadcast time and channel information.

TCR/TCA QUALIFYING

TC QUALIFYING