Qualifying to set the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge grid for Friday’s Fox Factory 120 was straightforward Thursday evening at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The drama occurred a day earlier.
A brake failure on the No. 20 M1 Racing McLaren 570S GT4 during a test session Wednesday on the 12-turn, 2.54-mile road course sent driver Ryan Nash’s car careening off track and into a wooded area. Fortunately, Nash was unhurt, but the McLaren sustained extensive damage and was not repairable.
Determined to compete this weekend, M1 Racing acquired use of a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport from Archangel Racing. The Porsche still carried the neon yellow Archangel livery but was rebranded as the No. 20 M1 Racing entry. Nash qualified the car 19th in the Grand Sport (GS) class on Thursday.
Archangel, meanwhile, opted to make an early change to its new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 this weekend, with Alan Brynjolfsson qualifying the No. 7 fifth.
Pole position went to Tyler McQuarrie in a runaway. Driving the No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine racing Audi R8 GT4, McQuarrie fashioned a fast lap of 1 minute, 25.921 seconds (106.423 mph) to secure the pole by more than three-quarters of a second over Robby Foley in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4.
The Touring Car (TCR) class saw a frantic finish to its qualifying session following a red-flag stoppage midway through. At the conclusion, the top four cars were separated by a mere 0.067 seconds, with the No. 84 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic of Todd Lamb barely beating out a trio of Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundai Veloster Ns.
Lamb’s late lap of 1:28.887 (102.871 mph) took top honors, just ahead of Mason Filippi in the No. 98 BHA Veloster, Mark Wilkins in the No. 21 BHA entry and Ryan Norman in the No. 33 BHA car.
Friday’s two-hour race begins at 3:35 p.m. ET. The live broadcast airs live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.