Oct. 15, 2020By Mark RobinsonIMSA Wire Service McQuarrie Avoids Drama to Put No. 39 Audi on Michelin Pilot Challenge PoleQualifying 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. Points Leaders Will Start from Pole in Prototype Championship Finale Naveen Rao put himself and teammate Matthew Bell in prime position to wrap up the IMSA Prototype Challenge championship, claiming the pole in qualifying Thursday for the season finale. Rao logged a lap of 1 minute, 17.898 seconds (117.383 mph) with four minutes left in the 15-minute qualifying session and held on for the top spot in the No. 64 K2R Motorsports Norma M30. Teammate Steven Thomas made Rao sweat, turning a lap within 0.09 seconds in the No. 11 Norma to lock up the front row for K2R Motorsports. Rao and Bell hold a six-point lead over Dakota Dickerson in the Prototype Challenge standings going into Friday’s three-hour race. Dom Cicero, Dickerson’s co-driver in the No. 54 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P3, qualified the car fourth on the grid. Rao and Bell will clinch the championship with a podium finish. The race starts at 9:10 a.m. ET Friday and streams live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. Dickinson Rolls to Pole Position in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama Qualifying For the third straight event, Riley Dickinson led Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama qualifying and will start from the pole position in the first of three races this weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Dickinson posted a lap of 1 minute, 23.427 seconds (109.604 mph) in the No. 53 Moorespeed Porsche 991 to edge Sean McAlister in the No. 11 JDX Racing Porsche by 0.019 seconds. Sebastian Carazo qualified third in the No. 27 Kelly-Moss Road and Race Porsche. Heading into the tripleheader, Dickinson trails No. 16 Kelly-Moss driver Jeff Kingsley by 22 points in the driver standings. Efrin Castro led Gold class qualifying with a best lap of 1:25.457 (107.000 mph) in the No. 65 TPC Racing Porsche. The GT3 Cup Challenge races are scheduled for 8 a.m. and 1:55 p.m. ET Friday, and at 10 a.m. Saturday. Each race streams live on IMSA.com. Andretti Autosport Announces Prototype Challenge Entry for Jarett Andretti in 2021 The legendary Andretti name is returning to sports-car racing in 2021. Andretti Autosport announced it will field a Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) entry in the IMSA Prototype Challenge with Jarett Andretti driving. Retired IndyCar great Michael Andretti – the son of racing legend and three-time Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring winner Mario Andretti – is chairman and CEO of Andretti Autosport, which has fielded winning teams in IndyCars, Formula E, rallycross and more. Jarett Andretti is the son of the late John Andretti, Mario’s nephew and a winning driver in IndyCar, NASCAR and drag racing. Jarett Andretti just finished a championship-winning season in the Pirelli GT4 America SprintX series. “To say I’m excited to be joining IMSA and the Prototype Challenge for 2021 would be an understatement,” Jarett Andretti said. “In December of last year, Dad and I had many discussions about series we should grow into for 2021, and he felt strongly about the LMP3 cars and that it would be great for my development as well as our sponsors. We set that goal to move to Prototype racing and have been lucky to have a great partner, Gallant, join the team this year as an associate and then grow into a primary sponsor for 2021 and beyond.” Andretti Autosport will race a new Ligier JS P320 in the six-race Prototype Challenge, which will feature classes for new-specification and 2020 spec LMP3s in the 2021 season. “We are very happy to have Jarett join the IMSA Prototype Challenge for 2021,” Michael Andretti said. “He has shown impressive talent with the GT4 series and we can’t wait to see what he can do in the LMP3 cars.” |
