BRASELTON, Geo. — Koch-Copeland Motorsports’ Jaxon Bell won the pole Thursday evening (Oct. 1) for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge FOX Factory 120 with a lap at 106.947 mph. It is his second pole of the year. It is also a new track record, beating out the previous record from Akhil Rabindra back in 2019.
Bell won the pole by .179 seconds over TeamTGM’s Paul Holton. Ibiza Farm Motorsport’s Moisey Uretsky will start third, followed by YRB Racing’s Allen Patten. The Heart of Racing’s Hannah Greenemeier will start fifth.
Early on, local racer Patrick Wilmot was quickest in his Supra for Kingpin Racing. Six minutes in, Patten, fresh off losing an overall win at Barber Motorsports Park last week due to an avoidable contact penalty, went to the top in his Aston Martin.
Later on, Holton took his Ford Mustang to the top with Uretsky just behind. However, just past the halfway point of the session, Bell, who was fastest in Practice No. 2 Thursday morning, put himself up front.
The remainder of the field took their shots to try to usurp Bell, but they were unable to do. They also had less time than normal to do it.
The session ended with a little less than three minutes to go when Panam Motorsport’s Caio Chaves went off-course in turn 5 and brought out the red flag. Chaves was sixth quickest at the time, but lost his two fastest laps by bringing out the red. As a result, he will start 29th.
Of the championship contenders, Uretsky qualified the best in third. Turner Motorsport’s Dillon Machavern will start eighth, while AutoTechnic Racing’s Austin Krainz will start 11th. Winward Racing’s Bryce Ward qualified 21st.
In TCR, Victor Gonzalez Racing’s Steven Clemons was fastest early on in his Cupra, but the quickest man appeared to be Stallion Motorsports’ Jenson Brickley. Brickley, making only his second career Pilot Challenge start, showed good pace in Indianapolis and continued that form here.
Bryan Herta Autosport teammates Lance Bergstein and Preston Brown took their turns at the front. However, KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Rocco Pasquarella, who was also quick in practice, dipped into the 86-second bracket to top the chart at the halfway point.
Montreal Motorsport Group’s Karl Wittmer, who was fastest in Practice No. 2 Thursday morning, moved to the front with a lap at 105.871 mph with six minutes to go. That lap held up to give Wittmer his first pole and MMG their fourth pole of the year.
Wittmer’s lap, which was good enough for seventh overall, was .322 seconds faster than Pasquarella. Bryan Herta Autosport’s Bryson Morris will start third, followed by Brickley and Baker Racing’s Sam Baker.
There were no cautions during the session, but Baker did pull off at turn 5 late in the session with a mechanical issue. He got far enough out of harm’s way that the session could finish naturally. However, this team was forced to withdraw at Indianapolis due to gearbox issues, so a recurrence could be devastating.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge FOX Factory 120 Qualifying Results
The FOX Factory 120 is scheduled to go green at 11:40 a.m. ET Friday morning. Coverage will stream live 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.
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