Honda Michelin Series Qualifying Grid Report from Circuit Mont-Tremblant

DIDIER SCHRAENEN WINS THE HONDA / MICHELIN SERIES POLE  FOR THE FALL
CLASSIC AT CIRCUIT MONT-TREMBLANT

Mont-Tremblant, Québec (September 25, 2004) - Veteran Didier
Schraenen of Mont St. Hilaire (QC) won his first Honda / Michelin
Series pole of 2004 following the two qualifying sessions held
Saturday at Circuit Mont-Tremblant. The Énergie/NAPA/RDS driver
posted his best time of the day during the morning session with a lap
time of 2 minutes 5.859 seconds around the 4.26-kilometre track,
averaging 121.851 km/h. Schraenen will share the front row with
rookie Emmanuel Boivin-Moreau of Longueuil, Quebec. The Lombardi
Honda driver registered his best time on lap 8 of 14 of the afternoon
session with a time of 2:05.898, for an average speed of 121.813 km/h.

Three-time series champion Normand Boyer of Ste. Agathe snagged third
place on the grid on the last lap of the second session. Boyer drove
his Lombardi Honda around the track in 2:05.939 for an average speed
of 121.773 km/h. He will share the second row with one of his four
teammates, Steven Laporte of St. Sauveur (QC) who, like Boyer,
registered his best time on the last lap of the second session.

Row three has Frédérick Lelièvre of Mont-Joli on the inside, next to
rookie Alex Penfold of Georgetown, Ontario. Quebecers Kuno Wittmer,
Robert Boyer, Nick Wittmer and Denis Baillargeon rounded out the top
10.

With the point that came with the pole, Schraenen moves into sole
position of second place in the standings with 176 points, seven
points behind series leader Steven Laporte. ''I didn't have a very
good second session,'' said Schraenen, referring to the afternoon
qualifying period. ''I had planned to run with Lelièvre (Frédérick)
and Kuno (Wittmer), but we got involved and passed by the Lombardi
Honda four-car train and then someone went off course and sent a
stone in my windshield, breaking it. This kind off broke my rhythm.
But the important thing is that we kept the pole and the point that
goes with it. The last time I started from the pole here at
Tremblant, I won my first-ever Honda / Michelin Series race back in
1990. I will try to keep my streak alive (!!!).''

This will be an all-around first for Boivin-Moreau, as he starts on
the front row for the first time in his career. ''On Thursday, I
tested at the track for the first time, and ever since then I have
improved on every session,'' said the rookie driver. ''The Lombardi
Honda performs well here, but I must add that I was at the right
place at the right time when I posted my quickest lap of the day. I
was the caboose of the Lombardi Honda train and I used the draft to
move to the top of the leader board. At the end of the session, the
series officials asked me to come in to serve a stop-and-go penalty,
and I decided to stay in the pits. It was a good thing because one
more lap on the track and my car would have been underweight because
of the spent fuel to do an extra lap.''

As for Normand Boyer, he was pleased with his third place on the
grid, his best start since June. ''The car was getting better and
better as the second session progressed,'' said Boyer. ''But we
should have had a better overall plan for our two sessions. In the
first qualifying, I ended up ninth and Didier got provisional pole,
which he kept. Had we had a better first session, we could have been
higher on the grid. Anyway, I'm very confident for the race. The
track is very wide and there are two safe places to pass and one that
is a bit more risky. We'll see what we can come up with for the
race.''

The Honda/Michelin Series drivers will return to the track on Sunday
for the morning warm-up. The green flag for Round 9 of 10, a 16-lap
race, will drop Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

The Series
The Honda / Michelin Challenge Series is a ten-race series held over
nine weekends. Six of the races are contested in Ontario (Mosport &
Shannonville), with the balance in Québec (Montréal, Trois-Rivières,
Saint-Eustache & Mont-Tremblant).

The stock Honda Civic DX Coupes are equipped with Michelin Pilot
Sport Cup tires, and provide a truly low-cost form of motor racing.
The series was re-introduced to encourage young drivers to enter the
sport, but has also attracted several veterans. The single-make
Championship Series gives drivers the opportunity to showcase their
talents in identical cars. The Honda/Michelin Challenge Series
reinforces the fun-to-drive aspects of the Civic, the top-selling
passenger car in Canada for the past six years, and will be further
supported by its reputation for quality, reliability and durability.

The road racing series was originally launched in 1976 with the Honda
Civic Hatchback.  During its 17-year run, the series attracted more
than 400 racers, including Richard Spénard, Tony Morris, Frank
Allers, Marc Dancose and Jacques Villeneuve, brother of the late
Formula 1 driver Gilles Villeneuve.

Sanctioned by ASN Canada FIA, the series is sponsored by Honda Canada
Inc., and co-sponsored by Michelin North America (Canada) Inc.,
Alpine, Bosal, CSC, Goodridge and NGK.