Paul Holton won the pole position for Friday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season finale, the Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, to the benefit of his Team TGM co-driver Matt Plumb.
Holton, who replaced Owen Trinkler in the #46 TGM Aston Martin Vantage GT4 from Sebring onward, won the pole with a lap time of 1:26.472 to put Plumb in the best possible position to win the Grand Sport class championship in Friday’s two-hour race – needing a finish of sixth or better to clinch the championship
Series debutant Sam Paley, fresh off his maiden Mustang Challenge campaign, was second-fastest in the #13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4, only 0.017 seconds behind Holton.
IMSA WeatherTech series-bound Rory van der Steur was third-fastest in the #19 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin, ahead of Robby Foley in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4.
Trent Hindman and Stevan McAleer will start sixth on the grid tomorrow in their #28 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4. McAleer was seventh-fastest out of all cars that qualified, and the RS1 duo trails Matt Plumb by 110 points in the battle for the GS title.
TCR pole position went to Bryson Morris in the #77 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR, not only did Morris outqualify all but four GS cars, but he set a new TCR course record with a time of 1:26.962. Per the sporting regulations, he’ll only have to start at the head of the TCR field and not amongst the other GT4 vehicles – but it was still a stellar performance.
Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundais locked out the top three in TCR as Robert Wickens qualified second in his #33 Hyundai, ahead of Mason Filippi in the #98 car.
Wickens and Harry Gottsacker need to win the race to have any chance of overturning the 150-point deficit to Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor, who’ll start seventh in class in their #17 JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS 3 LMS.
Miller and Taylor would also have to finish last out of 12 TCR cars – or fail to start entirely – to miss out on the title.
The Fox Factory 120 starts Friday at 12:45 PM EDT, and will stream live on the IMSA YouTube channel in 185 countries, and in the United States on Peacock.
Images © Jake Galstad / IMSA
