Two teams in search of elusive first 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge wins will try to take the race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, while the five teams in search of the Grand Sport (GS) championship largely have uphill climbs to try to capture the season-long title.
It sets up for a fascinating two hours on Friday for the Fox Factory 120 to cap off the season, at 11:35 AM ET. The race streams live, flag-to-flag, ad-free courtesy of Michelin on the IMSA Official YouTube channel.
Jaxon Bell took the #23 Koch-Copeland Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 to a new lap record of 1:25.500 around Road Atlanta. That beat the previous mark that stood for seven years (1:25.715). He’ll share the car with Ford Koch as they look to get back on the podium for the first time this year. They finished second here last year.
“We’re two-for-two on poles, and it’s pretty special to deliver this one,” said Bell, whose father Townsend will be part of NBC Sports’ commentary team for Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans (Saturday, Noon ET, NBC).
“Ford will do a great job bringing it home tomorrow. This place is one of the best places to throw down a lap in qualifying, when you have low fuel, sticker tires and a clean track.”
Paul Holton nearly delivered his fourth GS pole at Michelin Raceway but came up just 0.179 of a second short in his #46 Team TGM Ford Mustang GT4 he shares with Matt Plumb. Plumb remains tied with Billy Johnson with 24 career wins, most in series history. Team TGM’s Ted Giovanis also seeks to retain the GS Bronze Cup title.
As for the top five in the championship, they’ll roll off anywhere from third to 21st in the 31-car GS field.
The best positioned is Ibiza Farm Motorsport’s pair of Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky, which enters 120 points back in fourth in the #44 McLaren Artura GT4. They’ll start third as they seek their fourth win of the year, and second in a row both in 2026 and at Michelin Raceway.
Turner Motorsport’s #95 BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars starts eighth. They’re second in points, 30 behind fellow BMW runners AutoTechnic Racing. That pairing of Stevan McAleer and Austin Krainz qualified the #27 BMW M4 GT4 EVO in 11th.
Third in points, Robert Noaker in the #13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4, will have to make up the 40-point deficit from his car number of 13th spot on the grid. He shares the car with Finn Wiebelhaus in his third start.
Last and still in with a semi-realistic shot is Winward Racing’s #57 Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 of Bryce Ward, who is 130 points back. Ward qualified 21st and will look to turn over the car to Daan Arrow in a higher position.
BMW and Ford also square off for the GS manufacturer championship, where BMW leads Ford by 40 points.
MMG deployed its usual race finisher, Karl Wittmer, to qualify its #93 Honda Civic FL5 TCR as the sun set Thursday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in TCR
Wittmer’s got the best possible vantage point to start before he hands off to Louis-Philippe Montour on Friday, as he set a new TCR lap record by a considerable margin.
Wittmer posted a best time on his fourth flying lap of 1:26.369 – more than half a second quicker than the previous mark (1:26.917 set last year) – to score his third career and first Michelin Pilot Challenge pole of the year.
It also continues Honda’s run of form in qualifying, with seven poles in 10 races this season. Montour won three straight at Watkins Glen International, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road America while Rocco Pasquarella won three of his own in the sister #5 Civic fielded by KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering.
Fittingly, Pasquarella slotted in second to Wittmer on Thursday ahead of the championship-leading #33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Bryson Morris and Mason Filippi.
With a 200-point lead and a maximum of 180 points for anyone to gain in a 14-car TCR field, the #33 pairing can clinch the title so long as they start Friday’s Michelin Pilot Challenge race.
Sam Baker slotted the returning #52 Baker Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR into fifth. If he and co-driver James Vance, or any of the other two Audis entered, win Friday, all 18 participating OEMs in IMSA will have one at least one IMSA-sanctioned race in 2026.
Images © IMSA
