Shift Up Now Athletes Hannah Greenemeier, Hannah Grisham and Laura Hayes competed in the Lone Star Enduro, with “The Hannahs” earning a third-place, podium finish in class, in the Pirelli GT4 America series at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, April 26, 2025.
Greenemeier and Grisham co-piloted the No. 26 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for Heart of Racing in the Silver class. Hayes, along with Allen Patten, drove the No. 606 Toyota Supra GT4 for Thunder Bunny Racing (TBR).
As the sole single-day race of the season, as opposed to the usual two 60-minute races, the three-hour Lone Star Enduro competition on the 3.426-mile, 20-turn track was worth double points.
Testing took place on Thursday, with Hayes and Allen running in the top ten overall, at the front of their class. On Friday, the Hannahs ran inside the top 15 during both practice sessions, leading into Saturday morning’s qualifying.
The following morning, Grisham qualified the Heart of Racing car, putting the duo in 16th on the starting grid. Patten was in charge of qualifying for TBR and earned a seventh-place starting position.
Later that afternoon, the race began at 5:00pm CST and the field prepared to race into the sunset for the three-hour competition. Greenemeier and Hayes were behind the wheel for their respective teams as the field lined up two-by-two for the green flag.
Aside from a few cars running wide on the outside of turn one, the field made a clean start. Hayes advanced a position to sixth-place by the first turn, then another one into fifth through the esses. By the end of the first lap, Greenemeier gained one position and was running fifteenth. As the second lap began, the top six cars began to break away and create a gap to the rest of the field.
The first full-course yellow occurred at the start of lap three. Online debris cleanup in the esses was quick, so the field lined up for the restart.
Hayes had a strong restart with her sights set on fourth. A side-by-side battle through several corners ended up dropping her back to sixth, but she maintained a dominant lead in class.
Greenemeier’s restart was also solid, as she made a pass into turn 11, advancing to 13th place. By the end of that lap, she had moved into the 11th-place spot overall, and fifth in the Silver class. As the field came back around to the front straight, she made a pass to move into the top ten.
Meanwhile, Hayes made a pass on the first turn to move into fifth overall, freeing her up to chase the leaders and setting the fastest lap of the race to that point.
A second full-course yellow then opened up a pit window for those who wanted to roll the dice on strategy and attempt to finish the race in two more stops. Both Hayes’ and Greenemeier’s teams elected to stay out. A few laps later, the Heart of Racing team decided to pit, costing them track position but giving them the ability to run longer, still aiming for just two more stops.
Two hours and 20 minutes remained at the restart. Hayes was running in second place, then took the lead when the leader suddenly pulled into the pits at the restart.
Grisham was now behind the wheel of the Heart of Racing car, running in 12th. She raced side-by-side in her pack, running as high as ninth before being shuffled back to 11th later in the lap.
By the end of the second post-restart lap, Hayes had jumped to a 2.4-second lead, then had to pit for the first of three mandatory stops, and Patten took the wheel.
At roughly the halfway point of the race, the second round of pit stops took place under green. Greenemeier was back at the wheel and as the stint rolled on, she moved into fifth overall, and fourth in class. Then, drivers pitting up ahead moved her into fourth overall.
With 50 minutes remaining, the final pit window opened and the leaders took to pit lane. The Heart of Racing team used this stop to swap drivers and put Grisham back in the car.
After nearly two hours of green-flag racing, the final full-course yellow came out with 25 minutes left in the competition. The field closed up and the TBR team felt good about their podium chances. However, just before the green flag flew, a tie-rod broke on their Supra GT4 and Allen had to bring the car back to pit lane.
Twelve minutes remained at the restart and chaos ensued all around Grisham. She managed to avoid a spinning car in turn 11 to move into fourth place in the Silver class and top ten overall. When the driver who caused his competitor to spin was assessed a drive-through penalty, Grisham advanced to eighth overall and into the final podium spot in the Silver class.
“It was great to leave COTA with a podium,” said Greenemeier. “The race was hectic at times but the team did a great job with everything from strategy to pit stops. A huge thank you to everyone on the team for all of their hard work at the track, the shop, and the test track. I’m looking forward to Sebring in a couple weeks, and trying to keep this momentum going.”
Next up, the Pirelli GT4 America series heads to Florida for rounds four and five of the championship, at Sebring International Raceway on May 16-18, 2025.
