WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — McCumbee McAleer Racing’s Jenson Altzman set a lap at 106.511 mph Friday afternoon (June 20) in his Ford Mustang GT4. That lap held up to claim the pole for Saturday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge LP Building Solutions 120. It is Altzman’s first career pole.
Altzman won the pole by .034 seconds over Team TGM’s Paul Holton. CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Sean McAlister will start third in his BMW, then Rennsport One’s Luca Mars and Panam Motorsport’s Caio Chaves.
Grand Sport saw the teams squabble at the time for supremacy. Mars, Altzman and Holton were the main favorites early on.
Mars put himself at the top relatively early on in the session, but Holton was able to beat it. Mars then took the top spot back.
In the closing minutes of the session, Altzman set the fastest time of all in the first sector of the lap. He was able to hold that advantage over Mars to take the top spot. The other 21 teams could
It should be noted that the top-five teams in qualifying were not the fastest cars in practice. Quickest in the opening session Thursday was the Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin driven by Robin Liddell. Teammate Frank DePew qualified the car towards the back of the class, but they could be a factor Saturday as long as DePew keeps himself out of trouble and on the lead lap during his stint in the car.
Ibiza Farm Motorsport’s Michael Cooper was fastest Friday morning. His teammate Moisey Uretsky qualified the sole McLaren in the field sixth in class.
In practice, the TCR speed charts were dominated by Montreal Motorsport Group. Qualifying was no different.
Louis-Philippe Montour, who was fastest in Practice No. 2 Friday morning, was the first driver on-track in the session. His first lap on the clock was 105.957 mph, slower than his best lap in practice, but still quicker than anyone else had mustered in either of the two practice sessions.
On his second lap, Montour improved to 106.169 mph, the fastest TCR lap of the weekend and more than a half-second faster than anyone else. The team considered the lap good enough that Montour pulled into the pits with more than six minutes remaining.
The rest of the pack attempted to do something to challenge Montour, but it just wasn’t happening Friday. The lap was not only good enough for Montour to take his second straight TCR pole at Watkins Glen, but good enough for sixth overall.
Montour’s lap was .639 seconds faster than Precision Racing LA’s Celso Neto. Baker Racing’s Sam Baker will start third, followed by Bryan Herta Autosport’s Parker Chase. Victor Gonzalez Racing Team’s Eric Powell was third.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge LP Building Solutions 120 Qualifying Results
The LP Building Solutions 120 is scheduled to go green at 11:45 a.m. ET Saturday morning. Coverage will start at 11:40 a.m. ET on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock.
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.