KohR Motorsports’ Luca Mars was able to back up his pace from practice to win the pole Saturday morning (Aug. 6) for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 240 with a lap at 106.445 mph. The lap was more than three-tenths of a second slower than what Mars turned in during Practice No. 2.
Early in the session, McCann Racing’s Andrew Davis, who won the pole at Daytona for the first four-hour race of the year, was able to put his Porsche on top of the charts. Mars was able to take over the top spot with six minutes to go. No one else was able to beat his lap, giving the 16-year old his first career IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge pole.
Mars won the pole by .289 seconds over Murillo Racing’s Kenton Koch in his Mercedes. Mars’ teammate Billy Johnson will start third, followed by Davis and FCP Euro by Ricca Autosport’s Trevor Andrusko.
TeamTGM’s Hugh Plumb will start in sixth in his Porsche, then Kenny Murillo in the Murillo No. 72. Turner Motorsport’s Dillon Machavern will start eighth with Grand Sport points leader Alan Brynjolfsson in tow. NOLAsport’s Matt Travis starts 10th.
The general length of Road America is such that it took nearly half of the 15-minute session for TCR teams for anyone to set a competitive time. Once that happened, the times began to drop.
On the first lap at speed, HART’s Chad Gilsinger was fastest in his Honda Civic Type-R TCR. His second lap was two seconds faster, quicker than any TCR lap turned in practice Thursday or Friday.
With about four minutes remaining in the session, KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Tim Lewis Jr. turned in a lap at 104.299 mph. That put the Alfa Romeo on top of the chart, a spot that would not be relinquished.
Lewis won the pole by .309 seconds over Gilsinger. Van der Steur Racing’s Tyler Gonzalez will start third in his Hyundai Veloster N TCR, followed by the Honda of VGRT’s Victor Gonzalez Jr. Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mark Wilkins will start fifth.
IMSA MICHELIN PILOT CHALLENGE ROAD AMERICA 240 QUALIFYING RESULTS
The Road America 240 is scheduled to go green at 2:15 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. The race will be streamed live on Peacock starting at 2:10 p.m. (subscription required).
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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