ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — McCumbee McAleer Racing’s Nate Cicero set a lap at 108.396 mph Friday (Aug. 1) in his Ford Mustang GT4. That lap held up to win Cicero the pole position for Saturday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120. It is Cicero’s second pole in a row and the team’s third straight overall pole.
Cicero won the pole by .640 seconds over CarBahn Motorsports by Peregrine Racing’s Sean McAlister. Rennsport One’s Luca Mars qualified third, then Team TGM’s Paul Holton. KohR Motorsports’ Bob Michaelian will start fifth.
Early on in the session, Czabok Simpson Motorsports’ Gordon Scully was fastest in his Porsche, but he was well down on the pace of the TCR cars and everyone that was fastest during the two practice sessions. With drivers having to slowly work themselves up to speed, it didn’t leave much of a margin of error.
On the second lap at speed, Cicero set the quick time of the session. That lap was more than five seconds faster than his previous lap. Everyone else tried their darndest to beat it.
Mars was in that boat and went a little too hard into the Kink. He slid wide and hit the SAFER Barrier, breaking the steering rack on his Porsche. He was able to drive back to the pits on his own, meaning that the red flag didn’t come out. However, the left front wheel had a mind of its own when the car pulled into their pit.
In TCR, teams went right out to set their time since it would be one-third of the 15-minute session before the first official times would be set. Montreal Motorsport Group’s Louis-Phillippe Montour put himself on the provisional pole, but lost it on the second lap to Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi.
With just over five minutes remaining in the session, Montour set a lap at 106.990 mph to put himself back on the provisional pole. At the time, the lap had the fastest time in all three sectors. With that, Montour yielded the track to let the other 13 drivers try to beat him.
In the remaining time, no one could touch Montour’s lap, allowing the Canadian racer to win the class pole in sixth overall0. It is MMG’s third pole in the last four races. Montour won the pole at Watkins Glen, while teammate Karl Wittmer won it at Mid-Ohio.
Montour won the pole by .499 seconds over Precision Racing LA’s Celso Neto. BHA’s Mark Wilkins, who trailed the pack at the beginning of the session, will start third with Filippi alongside. Luke Rumburg will start fifth.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120 Qualifying Results
The Road America 120 is scheduled to go green at 3:05 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. Coverage will begin at 3 p.m. ET on both 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.