Ambrose takes 'wet' Montreal pole

Rain has affected proceedings all through Saturday at the track, and after delaying the start of the session in an effort to get the track dry, officials decided to get the running under way on a wet track when it started drizzling again.

Ambrose made the most of the opportunity to show his wet driving ability, setting a fastest lap of 2m0.542s at an average speed of 80.905 mph to beat Nationwide Series title contender Carl Edwards by a massive 1.2 seconds.

"I grew up in the rain," said Ambrose. "I've lived half my life in one of the wettest places in the world. In Tasmania, we get about 200 days of rain, probably scattered throughout. I'm used to running in the rain. I've raced go-karts in the snow and all those things.

"I guess we're trying something new here today, and it's entertaining for the fans and it sure is entertaining to drive."

Ambrose and Edwards were set to team up earlier on Saturday in the Grand Am race, but Edwards wrecked the car during the event's warm-up session and they were unable to take the start.

Last year's event winner Ron Fellows was best among the locals in third, although more than 1.7 seconds off from pole, while Boris Said was fourth, already more than 2 seconds behind Ambrose's benchmark.

Local hero Jacques Villeneuve was sixth, sharing the third row with an impressive Brad Coleman, who races for Joe Gibbs Racing this weekend. Justin Marks was seventh fastest, while NASCAR Mexico reigning champion Antonio Perez was eighth.

"I find the rain a lot of fun, I've always enjoyed it," said Villeneuve, who hopes the weather stays the same for the race. "There's a chance I'll wind up in the fence, but you can pull something out. I'll be happier with the rain."

Rounding out the top ten were local Andrew Ranger and Sprint Cup regular Paul Menard.

Points leader Kyle Busch was only 12th while Brad Keselowski was 19th. Alex Tagliani will make his Nationwide Series debut from 23rd, Max Papis was 28th despite having dominated the only practice session of the day, while Patrick Carpentier was only 40th.

"It's not too much fun," said championship leader Busch. "These cars aren't made for this so it's just a fiasco. We're making the best of what we got. I had windshield wiper problems, defogger problems, staying on course problems - it's problems overall."

Goodyear recently developed a new wet-weather tyre, which will probably get its race debut on Sunday after being run by teams for the first time today.

Showers are in the forecast for the race, and teams have fitted windshield wipers and defrosters to their cars in order to be ready to race in the wet, after last year the Nationwide Series ran the first NASCAR race ever held in such conditions.

Pos  Driver                   Make        Speed    Time
 1.  Marcos Ambrose           Toyota      80.905   2:00.542
 2.  Carl Edwards             Ford        80.116   2:01.728 +  1.186
 3.  Ron Fellows              Chevrolet   79.717   2:02.338 +  1.796
 4.  Boris Said               Ford        78.902   2:03.601 +  3.059
 5.  Brad Coleman             Toyota      78.837   2:03.703 +  3.161
 6.  Jacques Villeneuve       Toyota      78.823   2:03.725 +  3.183
 7.  Justin Marks             Toyota      78.287   2:04.572 +  4.030
 8.  Antonio Perez            Dodge       78.261   2:04.613 +  4.071
 9.  Andrew Ranger            Toyota      78.257   2:04.620 +  4.078
10.  Paul Menard              Ford        78.206   2:04.701 +  4.159
11.  Stephen Leicht           Chevrolet   78.184   2:04.737 +  4.195
12.  Kyle Busch               Toyota      78.092   2:04.884 +  4.342
13.  Steve Wallace            Chevrolet   77.984   2:05.056 +  4.514
14.  Andy Lally               Chevrolet   77.895   2:05.200 +  4.658
15.  Colin Braun              Ford        77.551   2:05.755 +  5.213
16.  Jean-Francois Dumoulin   Chevrolet   77.542   2:05.769 +  5.227
17.  Brendan Gaughan          Chevrolet   77.481   2:05.868 +  5.326
18.  JR Fitzpatrick           Chevrolet   77.409   2:05.986 +  5.444
19.  Brad Keselowski          Chevrolet   77.358   2:06.068 +  5.526
20.  Mike Bliss               Chevrolet   77.337   2:06.103 +  5.561
21.  Jason Keller             Ford        77.115   2:06.466 +  5.924
22.  Jason Leffler            Toyota      76.973   2:06.699 +  6.157
23.  Alex Tagliani            Dodge       76.915   2:06.794 +  6.252
24.  DJ Kennington            Ford        76.875   2:06.860 +  6.318
25.  Jeffrey Earnhardt        Chevrolet   76.780   2:07.017 +  6.475
26.  Mark Green               Chevrolet   76.707   2:07.139 +  6.597
27.  Chris Cook               Chevrolet   76.456   2:07.556 +  7.014
28.  Max Papis                Chevrolet   76.449   2:07.567 +  7.025
29.  Erik Darnell             Ford        76.152   2:08.065 +  7.523
30.  Mike Wallace             Chevrolet   75.863   2:08.552 +  8.010
31.  Michael Annett           Toyota      75.849   2:08.577 +  8.035
32.  Michael McDowell         Dodge       75.659   2:08.900 +  8.358
33.  Tony Raines              Chevrolet   75.293   2:09.526 +  8.984
34.  Stanton Barrett          Chevrolet   75.198   2:09.689 +  9.147
35.  Tom Hubert               Chevrolet   75.120   2:09.824 +  9.282
36.  Victor Gonzalez Jr       Ford        74.787   2:10.403 +  9.861
37.  Brett Rowe               Chevrolet   74.521   2:10.868 + 10.326
38.  Kenny Wallace            Chevrolet   74.439   2:11.012 + 10.470
39.  Justin Allgaier          Dodge       73.963   2:11.856 + 11.314
40.  Patrick Carpentier       Toyota      73.919   2:11.934 + 11.392
41.  Eric McClure             Ford        71.568   2:16.267 + 15.725
42.  Brian Keselowski         Dodge       69.655   2:20.011 + 19.469
43.  Tony Ave                 Chevrolet   74.517   2:10.874 + 10.332