BOWMANVILLE, Ontario (July 12, 2025) – Paul Miller Racing will start Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix from the front row of the GTD Pro grid, following a milestone qualifying session that saw Neil Verhagen score his first career IMSA Motul Pole Award in the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
Verhagen posted a lap of 1:15.046 early in the 15-minute session and held the top spot through the checkered flag.
All ten GTD PRO qualifiers were ultimately covered by less than one second, with Verhagen delivering not only his first IMSA pole, but also the first pole at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for Paul Miller Racing.
“First IMSA pole – extremely happy with my performance today at Paul Miller Racing,” Verhagen said.
“They gave me a great car today and it was just one of those laps where I threw everything in and it worked. I don’t think there was really any more left in that and I am very happy with it. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow. Hopefully we can convert this pole position into a podium.”
The result builds on the team’s momentum following their first win of the season at Watkins Glen with the sister car, the No. 48 BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Dan Harper and Max Hesse.
Verhagen and co-driver Madison Snow will now aim to deliver back-to-back victories for Paul Miller Racing in Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute race.
“We’re incredibly proud of Neil and the entire crew for today’s pole,” said Paul Miller Racing Team Principal Mitchell Simmons.
“Watching the lap on video was simply amazing. Mosport demands precision, bravery, and a perfectly prepared car – and our team delivered on all fronts. This result is a testament to the hard work that’s gone in behind the scenes, and we’re confident heading into tomorrow’s race with the No. 1 and 48 BMW M4 GT3s will be competitive.”
The No. 48 BMW will start fifth after a solid effort from Harper in qualifying. The crew remains optimistic heading into a race that could be impacted by changing weather.
“P5 on the grid. We would have liked it to be a bit higher, especially with the No. 1 being on pole,” said Harper.
“Great job by Neil — mega lap and a great starting position for them. But P5 isn’t so far away, and we know how quickly things can change in IMSA. With some rain potentially on the schedule for tomorrow, it opens up a lot of opportunities. We’ll aim to make some improvements and close the gap to the sister car. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.”
As race day approaches, the Paul Miller Racing team will focus on fine-tuning their setups and preparing strategies to maximize performance at this challenging and fast circuit. With unpredictable weather potentially playing a role, adaptability will be key.
The Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park goes green on Sunday, July 7, at 2:05 p.m. ET with live coverage on USA Network in the U.S. and streaming via Peacock and IMSA’s YouTube channel internationally.
Max Hesse
“Obviously, nice work and hats off to the No. 1 crew for getting the pole position. Our P5 position is actually pretty decent – a good starting spot – but we obviously have quite a big gap to the sister car. We need to understand where that’s coming from in order to gain more performance, especially better race pace. I know the guys will do everything they can to try and fix the missing performance. We need to find that for tomorrow and have a clean race to be up front.”
