IMPC: Hannah Grisham secures first overall pole position, as Heart of Racing claims sixth at Watkins Glen
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Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier produced another front-running performance at Watkins Glen, where Grisham made history with a sensational pole position before the Heart of Racing Team duo converted their pace into another valuable top-six finish after leading the opening stages of the race.
Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier continued their impressive first campaign in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge by producing another front-running performance at Watkins Glen, where Grisham made history with a sensational pole position before the Heart of Racing Team duo converted their pace into another valuable top-six finish after leading the opening stages of the race.
The fifth round of the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season formed part of the support programme for the iconic Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, bringing the GS and TCR fields to one of North America's fastest and most technically demanding permanent road courses.
Grisham and Greenemeier arrived at Watkins Glen having steadily emerged one of the championship's best rookie pairings aboard the #26 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
After immediately demonstrating front-running pace on their debut at Daytona, where they spent much of the four-hour race battling inside the leading group before narrowly missing out on a top-ten finish in eleventh place, the duo had continued to showcase increasingly impressive speed throughout the opening rounds. Sebring promised another strong result before a technical issue prematurely ended their race, while Laguna Seca finally rewarded their pace with a superb recovery from 17th on the grid to 7th place following excellent execution and strategy.
At Mid-Ohio, the pair once again looked capable of another top-ten finish, spending much of the four-hour contest comfortably inside the leading group before a late caution and restart ultimately shuffled them back to 12th, a finishing position that did little justice to another highly competitive performance.
With confidence growing at every event, Watkins Glen represented another opportunity to demonstrate the pace that had become increasingly evident throughout the first half of their season.
The opening practice session at The Glen took place in wet conditions, presenting drivers with another challenge. Heart of Racing used the session primarily to build confidence, with Hannah Greenemeier recording a best lap of 2:10.7 as the team finished 19th overall. Dry conditions returned for the second practice session, and Greenemeier lowered the team's benchmark to a 1:55.1 lap while continuing to refine the Aston Martin's setup ahead of qualifying and race.
Saturday's qualifying session would become one of the highlight moments of the weekend not only for the Heart of Racing team, but also for the series itself.
Hannah Grisham climbed aboard the #26 Aston Martin for the 15-minute qualifying shootout and immediately looked exceptionally comfortable.
Lighting up the timing screens with a purple opening sector, Grisham pieced together a remarkable lap around the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen circuit: a 1:53.839 that proved comfortably quicker than anyone else in the GS field: overall Pole position was secured by a solid margin.
By taking outright pole position, Grisham became the first woman to secure an overall GS pole in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, and the first female driver to claim an overall pole position in the championship or its direct predecessor since Valerie Limoges achieved the feat at Homestead in 2007.
For both Grisham and Greenemeier, it represented another landmark achievement, after finding success in the Pirelli GT4 America series.
Saturday afternoon's two-hour race began with Hannah Grisham leading the field away from pole position in one of the most significant moments for women competing in IMSA support championships in recent years. Grisham reacted perfectly as the green flag waved; covering the inside into Turn 1, she retained the lead cleanly and immediately settled into the rhythm that had earned her pole position a day earlier.
Behind her, Slater's #60 Kohr Motorsport Ford Mustang remained close enough to apply pressure during the opening laps, but Grisham never allowed the gap to shrink significantly. Instead, she immediately established an advantage of approximately one second.
It became a perfectly managed cushion that she maintained lap after lap through precise, mistake-free driving. Whenever Slater edged fractionally closer through one sector, Grisham responded over the following lap, restoring the margin.
As the race approached the one-hour-and-fifteen-minute mark and the pit window opened, Grisham completed what was undoubtedly one of the finest individual stints of her young IMSA career.
Having led from pole throughout the opening phase of the race, Grisham never gave up the lead and completed a masterful opening stint, bringing the #26 Aston Martin into pit lane from the overall lead, completing one of the finest opening stints of her career to date. The Heart of Racing Team executed a good stop, changing tyres and completing the driver change as Hannah Greenemeier climbed aboard to complete the race.
Following the first round of pit stops, however, strategy briefly reshuffled the order. The #39 CarBahn BMW of Jeff Westphal emerged in the overall lead, with Greenemeier rejoining second after the pit sequence. Behind her, Noaker and Ellis were beginning to close in, as Greenemeier soon faced pressure to defend the podium.
Running second overall, she soon encountered TCR traffic while simultaneously defending from the hard-charging Mustang of Noaker and the Mercedes behind.
As Greenemeier negotiated a TCR car, the trio briefly found themselves three-wide, with Noaker managing to capitalize to slip past into second position. Westphal meanwhile was able to extend his advantage to around two seconds at the front.
Although she relinquished second, Greenemeier continued to drive confidently under pressure. Ellis eventually found a way through as well, dropping the Heart of Racing Aston to fourth, but Greenemeier continued circulating at competitive pace.
With approximately 45 minutes remaining, the leaders prepared for their second and final stop.
Greenemeier brought the Aston Martin to pit lane on lap 37, where the Heart of Racing crew elected to fit four fresh tyres. While the decision slightly lengthened the service compared to some rivals who opted against changing all four tyres, it provided Greenemeier with fresher rubber for the closing sprint to the finish.
After the pit cycle settled, Greenemeier rejoined 7th, although several competitors still needed to complete their final stops.
When the #23 Toyota encountered an issue and was forced into an additional pit stop, Greenemeier advanced to sixth place. Once the order stabilised, she established a comfortable rhythm, consistently maintaining roughly a two-second advantage over Michael Cooper and Salas behind while the leading group slowly edged away.
With around 15 minutes remaining, race leader Jeff Westphal suffered a left-rear puncture aboard the CarBahn BMW, immediately dropping out of contention for victory. The incident promoted Greenemeier into fifth place, putting the all-female Heart of Racing pairing back inside the top five after spending virtually the entire race among the frontrunners.
Greenemeier continued producing clean laps - then came one final interruption. With just 12 minutes remaining, a Full Course Yellow was deployed after Bill Auberlen lost a wheel on the #38 BMW, while several TCR cars simultaneously slowed with fuel concerns. The caution erased Greenemeier's carefully built advantage and bunched the entire GS field together for one final restart.
The race resumed with just 4 minutes left on the clock. The restart proved particularly unfortunate for the Heart of Racing driver; several lapped cars were positioned between the leading GS contenders, and Greenemeier became trapped behind the recovering Murillo Racing Mercedes. Unable to immediately clear the traffic, she lost crucial momentum, allowing Michael Cooper to slip through and claim fifth position.
Before Greenemeier had any opportunity to mount a response, another Full Course Yellow was required after a kerb became dislodged at the Bus Stop chicane. The race therefore finished under caution.
Grisham and Greenemeier crossed the finish line sixth overall in the GS class.
While narrowly missing out on a deserved top-five finish, the result nevertheless represented their best finish to date in the series - and another highly competitive performance from the all-female pairing, who once again demonstrated pace capable of fighting at the very front of the field throughout the race.
Following the fifth round of the season, Grisham and Greenemeier move up to sixth in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GS championship standings, adding an important haul of points after their strongest performances to date.
The championship now heads north of the border for the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on 10-12 July, where the Heart of Racing duo will aim to build on their Watkins Glen performance.