Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier secure third consecutive pole position, claim hard-fought top-10
- RACERS
- 58 minutes ago
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Among the the revelations of the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season, Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier added another pole positions to their campaign at Road America, with the Heart of Racing Team all-female duo eventually securing a ninth place finish in the two-hour race.
Among the the revelations of the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season, Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier added another remarkable qualifying performance to their campaign at Road America, with their third consecutive pole position. Although a series of intense battles in the closing stages ultimately limited the Heart of Racing Team duo to ninth place in the two-hour race, the all-female team once again demonstrated race-winning pace, led the early stages, and secured a valuable top-ten finish in another encouraging weekend for the Aston Martin squad.
Grisham and Greenemeier have emerged as one of the standout pairings of the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign aboard the #26 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Despite being rookies in IMSA, the duo has consistently challenged the GS frontrunners.
Their season began with an impressive debut at Daytona, where they immediately ran with the leading pack before narrowly missing out on a top-ten finish. Sebring ended in disappointment following a technical issue, but they bounced back strongly at Laguna Seca with an excellent recovery from 17th on the grid to finish seventh. Mid-Ohio produced another competitive showing before a late caution compromised their result, while Watkins Glen proved to be a breakthrough weekend as Grisham became the first woman to secure an overall GS pole position before the pair led the opening stages and finished inside the top six.
Momentum continued into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, where teammate Hannah Greenemeier secured another overall pole position, giving the Heart of Racing all-female lineup back-to-back poles. Arriving at Road America, the pair were aiming to make it three consecutive pole positions while continuing their charge toward the front of the championship.
The weekend began positively during practice. Greenemeier posted the team's quickest lap in FP1 with a 2:16.938, placing the Aston Martin 11th fastest in the highly competitive GS class. In the second session, Grisham took over and immediately demonstrated the team's pace, lowering the benchmark to a 2:15.212, which elevated the #26 Aston Martin to sixth overall heading into qualifying.
Grisham once again delivered a sensational qualifying performance: representing the team in qualifying, she immediately looked capable of extending the Heart of Racing pole streak. With a superb second sector, Grisham became the first driver to break the 2:15 barrier, posting a provisional pole lap of 2:14.836.
The young American was not finished there: improving once again, she found another three tenths to record a 2:14.505, further extending her advantage at the top of the timesheets. Before anyone could respond, the session was interrupted by a red flag after McAlister's #39 BMW went off at Turn 3 with just four minutes remaining.
As the clock continued to run during the stoppage, qualifying could not be resumed, officially handing Grisham pole position and securing a remarkable third consecutive GS pole for the all-female Heart of Racing Aston Martin. It also marked Grisham's second career IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge pole position.
Saturday's two-hour race presented an extra challenge; heavy rain earlier in the day had left Road America extremely wet, forcing the field to begin on rain tyres in difficult conditions.
Starting from pole, Grisham made a flawless getaway from the inside line, maintaining the lead through the opening corners while safely guiding both the GS field through the tricky first lap.
Immediately she began building an advantage. By the end of the opening lap Grisham had already stretched her lead to more than 1.5 seconds while Slater and Noaker battled fiercely for second place behind her. As those two fought among themselves, Grisham briefly looked set to escape.
However, Noaker eventually broke clear and began rapidly closing the gap. By lap four he had reached the rear bumper of the Aston Martin. As Grisham experienced a small slide under braking at Turn 5 while negotiating the wet conditions, the #13 Ford Mustang capitalized to move into the lead.
Grisham however immediately settled into an exceptional rhythm and responded with a series of fastest laps, becoming the only driver to dip below the 2:30 barrier with a 2:29.2 lap while reducing the gap back to under one second. The two leaders soon pulled well clear of the rest of the field, opening a remarkable twelve-second margin over third place.
As the rain gradually eased and grip improved, Grisham became even faster. She lowered the benchmark again with a stunning 2:27.7 before pulling alongside Noaker into Turn 1 in an attempt to reclaim the lead. Although she had to slot back into second, the fight for victory was clearly on as they encountered the first slower TCR traffic.
A delayed pass through lapped traffic briefly cost Grisham valuable time, but she immediately answered with another fastest lap - a 2:26.1 - which allowed her to erase more than half a second in a single lap and close back onto the rear of the leading Mustang. Just as the battle reached its peak, the Circle H Aston Martin of Hampton went off in the gravel at the Carousel, bringing out a full-course caution on lap 13 with 1 hour and 22 minutes remaining. The neutralization erased the sizeable gap the leading pair had built over the rest of the GS field.
When pit lane opened, nearly the entire GS field dove in. With the circuit drying rapidly, teams elected to switch from wet-weather tyres to slicks. Grisham pitted from second place before handing the Aston Martin over to Greenemeier.
Following the stops, Greenemeier rejoined fourth after the #95 Turner Motorsports BMW of Mars and the #19 Ford Mustang of Liefooghe gained positions during the pit sequence. When racing resumed with just over an hour remaining, Greenemeier immediately went on the offensive.
She launched an aggressive restart, attacking Mars' BMW while simultaneously defending from the Team TGM Ford driven by Plumb. However, with slick tyres still struggling to reach operating temperature on the damp surface, several rivals found opportunities to attack.
Plumb and Arrow both managed to work their way past as the field scrambled for grip, dropping Greenemeier to sixth. The battles only intensified and Greenemeier found herself fighting wheel-to-wheel with Plumb into Turn 1, where the two cars made slight contact. The incident cost valuable momentum, allowing Shields and Estep to also move ahead as the Heart of Racing Aston Martin slipped to eighth.
Still determined to recover, Greenemeier stayed within the leading group as multiple strategies began to emerge.
Fresh drama unfolded when race leader Liefooghe ran off the circuit on lap 26, prompting many teams to anticipate another caution and head for pit lane. Greenemeier also stopped, while several rivals elected to gamble by staying out longer, reshuffling the order once more.
Returning to green-flag racing with 37 minutes remaining, another light shower began falling over Road America. Greenemeier immediately attacked the BMW driven by McAleer. As Michael Cooper's McLaren also entered the fight, the three cars ran three-wide, resulting in contact that pushed the Aston Martin back to ninth. Race Control later assigned responsibility for the incident to McAleer's #27 BMW.
Another caution soon followed after Westphal went off in the CarBahn BMW. At the restart with 22 minutes remaining, Greenemeier resumed her charge, pressuring Taylor's Unitronic Porsche. Taylor eventually put a wheel onto the grass, struck the wall and dropped down the order, allowing Greenemeier to move back into seventh.
However, she soon found herself once again engaged in battle with Mars' Turner Motorsports BMW, eventually slipping back to eighth after another hard-fought exchange.
With just 9 minutes remaining, a heavy accident for Sterling's #4 Medusa Motorsport Aston Martin at the daunting Kink immediately triggered another full-course caution.
The race remained under yellow until the checkered flag. Grisham and Greenemeier were ultimately classified ninth overall, in a result that perhaps failed to reflect the pace they displayed throughout the weekend. After once again securing pole position, leading the opening laps and consistently matching the race leaders' speed in changing conditions, the Heart of Racing duo demonstrated that podiums are now well within reach as experience continues to grow.
Nevertheless, another top-ten finish adds valuable championship points and further confirms the pair as one of the most promising rookie combinations in the series. Following seven rounds, Grisham and Greenemeier sit eighth in the GS championship standings with 1,400 points as they prepare for the next round at Virginia International Raceway on 20–23 August.