Shift Up Now Athletes Hannah Greenemeier and Hannah Grisham matched their season-best finish, coming home in sixth—and simultaneously securing fourth place in the championship— for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on September 30-October 2, 2026.
Piloting the Heart of Racing No. 26 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo on the 2.54-mile, 12 turn permanent road course, “The Hannahs” hit the track for the first time Wednesday for practice one. Picking up where they left off during the last event at IMS, they showed strong pace immediately, with Grisham putting the duo in the top 10 on the time sheets.
On Thursday morning, practice two began at 8:35am EDT. Mist hovering over the track made for challenging conditions, but Greenemeier matched Grisham’s pace from the day before. By the end of the session, they were eighth on the time sheets.
Later that day, qualifying took place at 6:45pm EDT. Following the same driver order as the previous event at IMS, Greenemeier was behind the wheel. She set her best time of the weekend to put the team fifth on the grid for Friday’s race.
The two hour competition that would close out the Hannahs’ rookie season began at 11:40am EDT. The field ran two-by-two to the start with Greenemeier starting in the No. 26 on the inside of row three.
She had a solid start, but the car on the outside got a strong run into turn one and she dropped back to sixth. She maintained her line through turn one and completed the pass to take her fifth place spot back by turn three.
Within the first 10 minutes of the competition, Greenemeier was looking racy and setting her sights on fourth place. She made the move with an over/under pass exiting the turn 10 chicane, then began pulling a gap.
One lap later, she was on the tail of the third-place car. She looked to the inside, applied pressure and got a strong run on the back straight with a tow heading down to turn 10. Her competitor defended, so she went to the outside, looking to repeat the over/under move. When it didn’t work out, she held her position, but attempted the same maneuver again on the following lap.
In the three-wide moment that followed, the third-place car tried to defend against another competitor, slowing them both down and allowing Greenemeier to take over the third-place position.
When the first pit stop window opened approximately 42 minutes into the race, she briefly cycled into second place before pulling the Aston Martin into pit lane for the driver change, fuel, and tires.
Grisham took off to continue the momentum but also full-course caution emerged almost immediately for debris on the track. The field packed up behind the safety car, with Grisham running fifth for the restart.
Just like Greenemeier, she looked fast and repeated her teammate’s move on the back straight, getting a solid run off turn seven and trying to make the pass for fourth into turn 10.
After three attempts to pass her competitor in turn 10, she repeatedly slotted back into fifth place. However the fourth time was the charm. She got the run from turn 10, and the two competitors gave each other the bare minimum amount of space. Grisham got slightly nudged onto the dirt once again, but this time she completed the over/under pass described by the commentators as “forceful but clean driving,” and held the inside line into the infamous final corner onto the front straight.
Now running fourth in the GT4 field, she began to hunt down third place, closing the gap a few tenths at a time until she was within a second.
With 50 minutes remaining, the first of the lead cars pulled in for their final pit stop. To ensure Grisham would be able to finish the race without having to save fuel, the Heart of Racing team elected to keep her on track for a couple more laps, which cycled her to the lead of the race.
After the team’s final pit stop, Grisham still maintained her spot in a net fourth place when accounting for the cars still needing to make their final stop. She got a strong run out of turn seven, setting her focus on the final podium position. The net third-place car battled back while she kept the pressure on before eventually making the pass on the run down the back straight.
The second-place car became Grisham’s new target and she looked to the outside of turn six. Her competitor defended, and in a repeat of earlier, Grisham threw elbows with the car ahead on the entry to turn 10. Two light touches occurred, but she emerged in net second place.
With 35 minutes remaining in the season finale, the Heart of Racing car suffered a technical glitch and momentarily lost power in a high-speed portion of the race track. Grisham was able to get the car back up to speed again but fell back to tenth place.
Undeterred, Grisham focused forward and began making passes. With 15 minutes remaining, she was back up to eighth in the GT4 class, then caught up to the group running fourth through seventh with 10 minutes to go.
She made her now-signature move, with a big run coming off turn seven to take over the seventh-place position, then moved into sixth just a couple laps later. She was less than one second behind the fifth-place car with three minutes to go, when a massive incident on the front straight brought out the full-course caution. The race would finish under yellow, and Grisham crossed the finish line in sixth, securing the Hannahs’ fourth-place spot in the championship standings for their rookie campaign.
"Road Atlanta was another close but not close enough weekend for us," said Greenemeier. "We had the pace, we had the pit stops, we had strategy, we just didn’t have the luck once again. It’s hard having that electrical gremlin take away what I believe would have been a win for us but that’s how racing goes sometimes.
"I’m super proud of Hannah Grisham for how she handled that in the race and went straight back on the charge. I’m super proud of the whole Heart of Racing team for all their hard work this year and to see how all of us have grown to be a force to be reckoned with. Although we wanted the win getting P4 in the championship for our rookie season is something we can all be proud of. Thank you to the whole Heart of Racing team for a great year and everyone around me for pushing me to be better both on and off the track."
"Road Atlanta was a bit of a mixed bag to close out the season," added Grisham. "We had a really strong car and were in a great position—it felt like it was our race to win until an unfortunate electrical gremlin caused the car to shut off mid-race. It’s frustrating to end the season that way, especially knowing the pace and potential we had, but I’m proud of the fight we showed and everything we accomplished this season. A huge thank you to my entire team, The Heart of Racing, and everyone who supported me throughout the year. Finishing P4 in the championship in our rookie season is something we can all be really proud of."
