ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Things are truly coming together for the Hannahs these days. The Heart of Racing’s Hannah Grisham won the pole Friday (July 31) for Saturday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120 with a lap at 108.344 mph. It is her second pole of the season and the team’s third in a row.
“I think that, as a whole, we’ve been learning in every aspect, our driving, etc.,” “Some of the tracks that we’ve gone to are beneficial for the Aston [Martin]; the higher speed corners, high-commitment tracks seem to work nice with our car,” Grisham told Frontstretch after the session. “Three poles in a row for Hannah [Greenemeier] and myself. It’s really exciting [that] we’re on a roll and [can] hopefully carry that momentum into tomorrow.”
Grisham won the pole by .042 seconds over KohR Motorsports’ Evan Slater in his Ford Mustang GT4. Koch-Copeland Motorsports’ Ford Koch, who was fastest in practice Friday morning, will start third, followed by McCumbee-McAleer Racing’s Robert Noaker. TeamTGM’s Paul Holton was fifth.
During the Grand Sport session, Holton was quickest early on before Noaker was able to overtake him. Grisham was able to put herself on the provisional pole with her second lap at speed.
A lap later, Slater was able to put his Mustang at the front in an attempt to claim his first career pole. His time at the front only lasted for about a minute before Grisham took the pole back.
The result of the field would have liked the chance to go after Grisham’s time, but they didn’t really get the chance. The session effectively ended with just under five minutes to go when CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Sean McAlister went off-course in turn 3 to bring out the red flag. At the time, McAlister was third overall, but bringing out the red flag meant that he lost his two fastest laps. As a result, McAlister will start 19th in Grand Sport.
In TCR, Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi was quickest early on in his Hyundai. However, Montreal Motorsport Group’s Louis-Phillippe Montour was able to put himself on top of the chart halfway through the session.
The Canadian racer was able to improve his time to a lap at 107.052 mph. That lap held up to give Montour the TCR pole in ninth overall. It is Montour’s third straight pole and a track record for the class.
Montour ended up .130 seconds ahead of KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Rocco Pasquarella. Filippi will start third in class. It could have been better, but he lost a lap due to a track limit violation. Baker Racing’s Sam Baker will start fourth, while BHA’s Preston Brown was fifth.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120 Qualifying Results
The Road America 120 is scheduled to go green at 1:50 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. Coverage will stream live on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock starting at 1:45 p.m. ET
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.