BRASELTON, Ga. — TeamTGM’s Paul Holton won the pole Thursday evening (Oct. 10) for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge FOX Factory 120 with a lap at 105.745 mph. The starting spot will immensely help Holton’s teammate Matt Plumb, who is trying to lock down the Grand Sport championship.
“Our TeamTGM Driving Research Aston Martin has been fantastic all weekend,” Holton told Frontstretch after the session. “I’m actually surprised that it was [as fast as it was] since it was dark and there was a lot of rubber on the track.”
Holton won the pole by .017 seconds over McCumbee-McAleer Racing’s Sam Paley, who is making his series debut this weekend. Van der Steur Racing’s Rory van der Steur will start third, followed by Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley. CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Sean McAlister will start fifth.
Grand Sport teams took a little while to get up to speed. Once they did, Archangel Motorsports’ Todd Coleman and Baby Bull Racing’s Moisey Uretsky were up front.
Their time at the front was short-lived as van der Steur Racing’s Rory van der Steur put his Aston Martin on top with series debutant Sam Paley giving chase.
As Holton noted, the slightly cooler conditions at sunset, combined with rubber build-up from two WeatherTech practices and races for Porsche Carrera Cup North America, IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge and the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup resulted in slightly slower laps. The best lap in Practice No. 2 Thursday morning was six-tenths of a second faster than what ultimately won the pole.
Paley went to the top of the charts with five minutes to go in his Mustang. That didn’t last long as Holton beat it. With two minutes to go, Holton pitted and let the remaining 19 teams try to beat him. No one managed to do so.
TCR qualifying struggled to get underway. On the first lap under green, Baker Racing’s Sam Baker spun off the track in turn 7 and brought out the red flag.
Since no one had set a time before Baker’s incident, the red flag cut the session down from 15 minutes to under nine. As a result, the drivers had to get right to business.
Bryson Morris set the first lap truly at speed when he turned in a lap at 102.774 mph in his Hyundai. That time was beaten by Daijiro Yoshihara, who was going for his second straight pole.
Morris improved on his second lap at speed to put himself back on top. He then improved again with a lap at 104.861 mph. One more substantial improvement to a lap at 105.149 mph was enough to give Morris the pole.
Morris’ lap, which ended up fifth overall, was .501 seconds faster than teammate Robert Wickens. Mason Filippi completed a BHA podium sweep. Victor Gonzalez Racing Team’s Morgan Burkhard will start fourth in class while Yoshihara was fifth.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge FOX Factory 120 Qualifying Results
Aside from the Baker Racing Audi, Racers Edge Motorsports’ Honda did not turn in a lap during qualifying. They’ll start at the rear of the field.
The season finale for Pilot Challenge is scheduled to go green at 12:45 p.m. ET Friday afternoon. Coverage of the race will air live on Peacock starting at 12:40 p.m. ET.
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.