With IMSA’s final round of the season from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta comes the final race of the year for the GS and TCR field of the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series as thirty-one GS (GT4 based) and fourteen TCR based entries will be making their way over to the Braselton area of Georgia for their own final two-hour race of the year.
One fewer Aston Martin Racing powered entry this time around compared to the last from Indianapolis Motor Speedway just two weeks ago, next weekend sees just one of those six AMR Vantage GT4 powered entries with any mathematical chance of winning the overall GS class title at the end of next Saturdays race but even that would need something of a minor miracle to affect the running of those six crews ahead of Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeir within the championship.
Putting it bluntly, the #26 Heart of Racing AMR would need to win plus all those drivers ahead would need to fail to score in a sliding scale of importance from top to bottom to where the two Hannahs then stand within the table after they could only finish sixth from their pole position starting position.
Going onto the last round at the IMS, there was also the hopes of the #66 crew of Trenton Estap and Allen Patten within their renamed Oore Vantage GT4 entry but early contact for Patten just after the start saw them pick up heavy front end damage that not only ended their race within the first half hour but also ended their championship dreams.
The remaining four AMR runners all had good run outs around the infield circuit layout of the Motor Speedway, and all will be looking to round off the 2026 campaign upon something of a high. The #4 Medusa Motorsport AMR pairing of Hunter Yeany and Athan Sterling came back strong after their recent adversities only for another drive through penalty perhaps rob them of what could have been their best finish to date as the team already looks ahead to next season and the possibilities of running two such Aston Martins.
David Hampton and Thomas Merrill also had a solid P10 finish in class last time out, mirroring their early season pace that sadly went away from them in the midst of the season with their present P12 position in class looking slightly unfair compared to their efforts.
Then we have the two CSM Motorsport Aston Martins as that team looks to build solid foundations before a tough 2027 campaign having swapped to the British brand only a few races ago from their more usual Porsche chassis.
Morgan Burkhard and Zach Veach again feature within the #2 car (having finished P11 at IMS) with teammates and lesser experienced GT4 racers Ismaeel Ellahi and Ayrton Houk behind the wheel of the #3 car ahead of the race wave off at 11:40hrs local on FRIDAY.
Photo credits – Teams / social media
