Shift Up Now Athletes Hannah Greenemeier and Hannah Grisham earned a fifth-place finish in the Silver Class on Saturday, and followed it up with a third-place podium finish on Sunday, in rounds eight and nine of the Pirelli GT4 America at Road America on August 15-18, 2024.
Driving the No. 26 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 for the Heart of Racing team, both Greenemeier and Grisham earned their seats by winning the Heart of Racing scholarship. The 2024 season is Grisham’s second year with the team, and Greenemeier’s first. Further, it’s Greenemeier’s first year in GT racing coming from an open-wheel background.
The Road America race weekend marked only their second weekend competing in the Silver Class.
Testing took place on Thursday and Friday under tough weather conditions that included torrential downpour. On Friday, the 25-car field was able to complete one practice session. However, the rain was so heavy later that day that it canceled the second half of the second session.
Saturday morning dawned dry for qualifying and Grisham was behind the wheel for the first 15- minute qualifying block. Her first flying lap was big, immediately putting her into the top five on the time sheets. After struggling to find space with traffic over the next few laps, she dropped in position but stayed inside the top ten. Her final flying lap promoted her back to fifth overall, and fourth in the Silver Class.
Greenemeier then took the wheel for her 15-minute qualifying block. Despite minimal experience at Road America - or in dry track conditions at this track - she went faster with each lap and qualified inside the top 20.
Race one began on Saturday evening. Grisham was behind the wheel to start the 60-minute competition on the 14-turn, 4.048-mile road course. The field approached the green flag two- by-two, and Grisham had a strong start, slotting into sixth place as the field drove through turn one.
Shortly thereafter, a big crash behind the leaders brought out the full-course caution. Cleanup took several laps, then Grisham had another solid restart at the green. She maintained sixth place as the race settled in, unchallenged from the cars behind.
When the field went green again, Grish again had good restart, and she was able to maintain sixth place overall without being challenged. As the race settled in, she continued just behind the lead group, and unchallenged from behind.
Greenemeier then took over at the halfway point, where she continued to learn and adapt to the Aston Martin GT4. Despite being passed by a couple ProAm cars for overall race position, she maintained the team’s fifth-place Silver Class spot. When the checkered flag fell, “The Hannahs” finished eighth overall, their first overall top-ten finish of the season.
Race two took place mid-day on Sunday with Greenemeier behind the wheel. Melee ensued on the first lap, but she was able to avoid the chaos. About ten minutes into the 60-minute race, an issue dropped her to the back of the pack. Unfazed, she was immediately back on pace and passing cars to move back into the top 20.
Just as the pit window opened mid-race, a competitor’s cut tire created a significant amount of debris on the racing line of the track. In the case of it causing a full-course caution, the Heart of Racing team called Greenemeier to pit lane for the mandatory driver change. The decision proved to be a great strategy call when the caution flag flew the lap after Grisham left the pits, cycling her up to 15th.
Cleanup was significant, leaving just 19 minutes to go at the green flag. Grisham had a strong restart, and avoided contact between two cars ahead in turn one. She got boxed in with cars jockeying for position in turn three but managed to advance several places as the field came out of turn five. She continued making smart, aggressive moves throughout the lap, including a pass at Canada Corner, then another onto the front straight. After just one lap of green flag racing following the restart, she was inside the top ten.
Another lengthy full-course caution emerged. This time, just two laps of racing remained and two cars ahead had penalties pending. On the restart, Grisham made a pass for eighth place overall. Once penalties were served, she was promoted to seventh overall and fourth in the Silver Class.
After the race, the team learned that the leader hadn’t served his drive-through penalty, which then promoted Grisham and Greenemeier to sixth place overall and third place in the Silver Class. The finish was their first-ever in class, best-ever result, and first-ever double top-ten weekend.
“Great weekend overall,” said Greenemeier. “Today (Sunday), we were able to get our first podium in the Silver Class. I made a couple of mistakes in the race, but (Hannah) Grisham made up for them. The team did a great job with the strategy call this weekend, switching our driver lineups. It really paid off. I’m super-grateful for the opportunity. I know Grisham and I are hoping to keep this forward momentum at Barber in a few weeks.”
Grisham added, “I think we just played a smart race. We kept the car clean and optimized on running a little bit of a different strategy. At the end of today’s race, we were able to capitalize on other peoples’ mistakes. It’s just a really exciting weekend for the team. It is our first podium in Silver, and I think it’s just the beginning. I’m ready for the future, and what Hannah
(Greenemeier) and I can do together. Next is getting that win in Silver. Thank you to the whole team, for all their hard work, and for this opportunity.”
Next up, “The Hannahs” and Pirelli GT4 America will head to Barber Motorsports Park for rounds ten and eleven of the 2024 championship on September 6-8, 2024.
