Following the conclusion of Sept. 5’s TireRack.com Grand Prix, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge teams took to the 2.54-mile road course at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in order to qualify for Sunday’s (Sept. 6) Stay Frosty Performance Coolants 240. At the end of 30 minutes of qualifying, KohR Motorsports’ Nate Stacy put his Aston Martin Vantage GT4 on the overall pole with a lap at 106.160 mph.
During Saturday’s Grand Sport session, the quick times went back and forth between Stacy and Archangel Motorsports’ Trent Hindman. Hindman normally does not qualify for Michelin Pilot Challenge events, but since Sunday’s race is four hours, the team could take more liberties with their driver lineup.
Stacy was fastest early before Hindman usurped him. The two traded the pole until Hindman posted a lap at 106.122 mph. On his final lap of the session at speed (lap No. 7), Stacy was able to best Hindman’s time by a mere three-hundredths of a second.
Multimatic Motorsports’ Sebastian Priaulx, who won last year’s FOX Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with Austin Cindric, will start third in his Ford Mustang GT4. CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Tyler McQuarrie will start fourth while Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley (set for a very busy Sunday) will start fifth in his BMW.
Ashley Freiberg, in her first Michelin Pilot Challenge race since Daytona in 2018, will start sixth in her M1 Racing LLC McLaren 570S GT4. James Cox will be seventh on the grid, followed by Winward Racing’s Russell Ward. Motorsports In Action’s Corey Lewis qualified ninth in his McLaren after a big fire in the pits derailed his effort on Friday. PF Racing’s James Pesek will start 10th.
In TCR, it was Bryan Herta Autosport’s Harry Gottsacker who claimed the class pole in the black No. 21 Hyundai with a lap at 102.577 mph, good for 18th overall. Gottsacker’s lap was six-hundredths of a second faster than Tim Lewis Jr. in the KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Alfa Romeo, who took advantage of the flat out stretches to gain time. Fast MD Racing’s Max Faulkner will start third in his Audi with Ryan Norman in the No. 33 Hyundai fourth. Michael Lewis rounds out the top-five qualifiers.
IMSA MICHELIN PILOT CHALLENGE STAY FROSTY PERFORMANCE COOLANTS 240 QUALIFYING RESULTS
The Stay Frosty Performance Coolants 240 is scheduled to go green at 12:15 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon. Coverage is scheduled to begin at 12:05 p.m. ET on NBC Sports’ TrackPass service. Tape-delayed coverage of the race will air on Sep. 15 on NBCSN at 5 p.m. ET.
HELIO CASTRONEVES VICTORIOUS IN TIRERACK.COM GRAND PRIX
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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