Nate Stacy was able to maintain the quick pace that teammate Kyle Marcelli had in practice in order to win the pole Saturday morning (Sept. 26) first two-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race of the weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Stacy’s lap of 92.950 mph in his Aston Martin is the fastest lap of the weekend in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition, but by only four-thousandths of a second over the time Marcelli posted Friday.
Stacy’s qualifying lap was more than half a second faster than CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Tyler McQuarrie in his Audi. It’s a relatively common qualifying spot for the drifting veteran as Frontstretch has talked to McQuarrie multiple times in the past after second-place qualifying efforts.
Winward Racing’s Russell Ward will start third in his Mercedes, followed by the similar car of Murillo Racing’s Jeff Mosing. Multimatic Motorsports’ Scott Maxwell will start his Mustang in fifth. James Clay will start his BMW in sixth, with Robby Foley seventh. Bryce Ward will start the second Winward Racing Mercedes in eighth, then Archangel Motorsports’ Alan Brynjolfsson in the fastest of the Porsches in ninth. Nick Galante in the second BimmerWorld BMW will start 10th.
In TCR, Fast MD Racing’s Max Faulkner claimed the class pole with a lap at 89.066 mph, nearly two seconds slower than the quickest times set in practice Friday. Even more surprising is the fact that Faulkner’s lap was nearly 1.2 seconds faster than Bryan Herta Autosport’s Michael Lewis in second. KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Roy Block will start third in his Alfa Romeo, with JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Michael Johnson close behind. LA Honda World Racing’s Taylor Hagler will start fifth in her Honda Civic Type-R TCR.
IMSA MICHELIN PILOT CHALLENGE MID-OHIO 120 NO. 1 QUALIFYING RESULTS
The first Michelin Pilot Challenge race of the weekend is scheduled to go green at 1:05 p.m. ET. The race will be streamed live starting at 1 p.m. on NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass service.
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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