DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — McCumbee-McAleer Racing’s Nate Cicero won the pole Thursday (Jan. 22) for the BMW M Endurance Challenge, the season opener for IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Daytona International Speedway with a lap at 113.461 mph. It is Cicero’s second career Pilot Challenge pole.
Cicero won the pole by .261 seconds over VPX Motorsports’ Matheus Leist, who makes the move to Pilot Challenge from Pirelli GT4 America SprintX. RAFA Racing Team’s Varun Choksey will start third in his Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO 2, followed by Team TGM’s Paul Holton. CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Sean McAlister will start fifth.
For the past week, the Ford Mustang GT4s have been the talk of the town in Grand Sport. At times, Mustangs controlled the entire top-five on the time sheets.
Thursday saw Fords assert themselves once again, but not to the same degree as during the ROAR. Holton lead early in his Mustang racing debut. However, Cicero was able to put himself on top with six minutes to go.
From there, the rest of the field took their shots at Cicero’s time. None of the other Ford teams were able to pounce. Leist, making his Pilot Challenge debut with VPX Motorsport, came the closest, but he was unable to top Cicero.
In TCR, qualifying was an extension of the majority of the ROAR Before the 24 and practice sessions. Victor Gonzalez Racing’s Franco Girolami was able to set a lap at 109.677 mph to win the pole at the time.
However, in post-qualifying inspection, the No. 99 Seat Cupra VZ TCR was sent to the rear of the field due to bodywork did not conform to regulations. According to IMSA, the No. 99 violated Section 7.3.1 of the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Technical Regulations. The specific rule reads, “All servicing or repair must be made in good faith to restore the Car and all components to their originally intended form and function as defined by the Specification.”
While Girolami will have to come from the rear of the field Friday, he can take solace that he has a good car under him. Team owner Victor Gonzalez Jr. told Frontstretch Sunday afternoon that he was very confident coming out of the ROAR and felt that his team could make it three wins in a row dating back to Indianapolis last September.
As a result of the penalty, the pole position for Friday’s race was inherited by Stallion Motorsports’ Celso Neto with a lap at 109.555 mph. It is his first career Pilot Challenge TCR pole
Neto’s lap was .270 seconds faster than KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Rocco Pasquarella in his Honda, then Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi. Montreal Motorsports Group’s Louis-Phillippe Montour was fourth, while BHA’s Preston Brown rounded out the top-five.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge BMW M Endurance Challenge Qualifying Results
The BMW M Endurance Challenge is scheduled to go green at 1:45 p.m. ET Friday afternoon. Coverage will begin at 1:40 p.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 Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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.