Motorsport Week picked the winners and losers from last Sunday’s thrilling GT-only IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at the VIRginia International Raceway.
The ninth round on the 2024 schedule reminded us what heart-to-heart IMSA GT racing is like – being tight and exciting – without the prototype classes in the picture.
VIR is considered a traditional, old-school circuit with 17 twists and turns across 3.27 miles of ‘roller coaster’ tarmac.
A 2-hour and 40-minute race delivered refreshingly on green-flag running, heartbreak, drama as well as dominant players within the 23-car field, across the GTD and GTD Pro categories.
Paul Miller Racing were undoubtedly the star of the weekend having taken pole and asserted commanding pace along with a well-executed pit stop strategy and tyre management – as the ambient conditions warmed up at the VIR – towards victory lane.
There were, however, others in the field who found success having optimised factors like strategy yet those who lost out on an opportunity to fight for the win, or even simply score a healthy points haulage.
Loser – #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports (GTD Pro): Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims
Corvette Racing suffered issues across both of their factory Z06 GT3.Rs during the race, but it was the #3 which faced both the most hard-hitting reliability woes and a missed chance of likely taking the lead after the first round of pit stops.
Garcia was a four-time winner at VIR for Corvette, who have six in total. The five-time IMSA champion claimed victory last year in the C8.R GTLM-turned GT3 car with co-driver Jordan Taylor who had just announced his departure from the team having signed a contract for a GTP seat at WTRAndretti Acura.
The Spaniard’s current teammate and the reigning GTP champion claimed victory on his previous visit to VIR in 2018 behind the wheel of the BMW M8 GTLM, and so the record for both drivers and the team made the GT Challenge a promising event.
Unfortunately, it was not to become for the team after facing issues which turned the #3’s race into an unforgettable outing.
It began when the #3 was amongst the first GTD Pro entries to make their first pit stop, handing over the driving duties from Garcia to Sims.
Sims was running in second position and eyed out inheriting the race lead before he slowed down on his opening laps, at the exit of Turn 12 and onto the back-straight.
He conducted a power reset which did not bring back the power steering and so the #3 headed behind the wall, into the garage, and at the grasp of the mechanics who spent nearly 30 minutes replacing the power steering pump. At the moment he made it back into pit lane, the #3 fell from their decent form and down to the back of the order after fighting for the win.
Sims then encountered another issue which saw him face great difficulty in turning his #3 from Turn 7 with an eventual suspension issue halting the #3’s progress once again to behind the wall.
It was heartbreaking given Corvette’s initial form with both cars against Ford’s pair of Mustangs which are new cars for the 2024 season, like the Z06 GT3.R.
Winner – #23 Heart of Racing (GTD Pro): Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas
Speaking of strategy, the #23 Aston Martin AMR Vantage Evo was a clear winner in that particular department which ensured they clawed their way back after a significant penalty and found themselves in the race lead, despite also making a key mistake.
After Riberas qualified last in the GTD Pro class yet 14th in the overall classification, it was clear that work was needed to be done in the race to close up their second-placed championship position to AO Racing’s #77 Porsche 911 GT3.R, which had qualified just ahead – or rather on the same row.
From the moment in which the race begun, the pair fought for position whilst Klaus Bachler and Riberas attempted to make up ground with two GTD cars separating them to their nearest GTD Pro competitors.
At the first pit stop, the #23 Aston Martin stayed out for longer over ‘Roxy’ who was instructed to pit and change all four tyres after running incorrect pressures.
Nevertheless, the #23 pitted, Gunn took over, and emerged out of the pits just ahead of the #77 Porsche, now piloted by Laurin Heinrich who incurred a drive-through penalty for making contact with Jack Hawksworth’s #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.
Having been one of the earliest GTD Pro cars to pit, they found themselves eventually in the race lead – a remarkable climb mostly owing to their efficiently-timed pit stop and strong pace thereafter.
It was at their second pit stop when calamity struck, when they were forced to serve a drive-through after not adhering to their minimum refuelling time which lost their second place, with the #1 BMW having put lesser fuel in comparison in a legal manner; the #23 only lost one position.
Fast-forward to the only caution period of the race with 34 minutes remaining, the field was bunched up together meaning that Snow’s 14-second lead gap was nullified, and Gunn lurked in third with another shout at fighting for the lead.
Despite the fact Gunn did not retain his position on Dirk Mueller (#65 Ford Mustang GT3) at the restart, he later claimed back the position which earned him and Riberas a podium finish.
More importantly, the championship gap to the #77 Porsche (finished P7 in-class) was significantly reduced down from 76 points to just 17.
Loser – #55 Proton Competition (GTD): Giammarco Levorato and Corey Lewis
It was clear that the Mustang was a competitive package during the VIR race, with noticeable straight-line speed on the back-straight, and thus Ford’s sole GTD customer Proton Competition could have remained in promising class-victory contention, if it was not for a series of avoidable yet costly mistakes.
Italian youngster Levorato claimed his maiden IMSA pole position for Proton Competition and situated himself in sixth overall, behind five GTD Pros.
At the race start, he was not able retain his pole position with his nearest GTD rivals on his tail the green flag dropped.
Kenton Koch (#32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3) and Mike Skeer (#120 Wright Motorsports Porsche) soon eased more pressure onto the 21-year-old who fell to third, before gaining second position when Skeer outbraked himself drove wide at Turn 11-12, something the #55 Ford would see itself do later on.
Levorato made a similar error which pushed him down to fifth position. After the first pit stop, the #32 Mercedes-AMG lead comfortably although the #55 Ford held third with Corey Lewis at the wheel.
Whilst the GTD top-runners set consistent pace, the caution period enabled a 22-minute sprint to the end.
Extensive green flag running had switched to this sprint having also bunched up the cars, and so this was the #55’s chance to fight for the win again.
Regrettably, Lewis went wide at T11 which lost the team’s competitive chances of a podium finish at the least – having started on GTD pole – and so the #55 eventually finished eighth in-class.
Winner – #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports (GTD Pro): Harry Tincknell and Mike Rockenfeller
Meanwhile at the other end of the field, the factory-run Ford Mustangs performed strongly after delivering at their first race at the VIR.
The team finally claimed a podium with the #64 as the #65 finished in fourth position. This was the first race which saw both cars compete closely on pace which led to their positive finish.
Especially for the #64, which fought at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, their drivers drove fantastic stints with a special mention to Tincknell who had not raced at the VIR before.
Tincknell qualified the #64 in third position alongside Joey Hand’s #65 entrant, a personal-best so far in the 2024 season.
With a new car such as the Mustang GT3, reliability issues are often commonplace in the early development process as demonstrated at the Detroit Grand Prix.
For the VIR, however, the #64 did not make any mistakes, suffer any woes and managed to fight their corner during the final sprint to the chequered flag.
Little needs to be said about Corvette’s disastrous race in contrast to Ford’s smooth running, though it was enticing to watch Rockenfeller fend off Gunn’s #23 Aston Martin towards the end in an intense run to the finish.
Loser – #70 Inception Racing (GTD): Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff
The one and only caution period of the race had one particular ‘loser’ in mind, being the #70 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO2.
Besides the fact the #70 was in genuine, competitive form during the opening half of the race, it was also the causation of a preventable caution period.
Naturally, the caution can be viewed from two sides: That it disrupted an otherwise extensive green flag running or that it gave us an exciting run to the finishing line.
During the midway point of the GT Challenge, Schandorff duelled with Loris Spinelli of the #78 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 for a spot in the top-five.
Le Mans LMGT3 pole-sitter Brendan Iribe drove a mistake-free opening stint before Schandorff stepped in, but it was the latter driver who felt the car mechanically fail in dramatic fashion.
Firstly, onboard footage and audio implied a possible issue with the #70 as Schandorff exited onto the back-straight with reduced pace and early gear changes.
He opted not to pit, with the team urging him to stay out. Tragedy struck when an enormous plume of smoke poured out of the McLaren later that lap, additionally accompanied by oil spluttered out the rear.
If he pitted soon after the issue rose, then it would have not hit mechanical failure like it did to bring out a caution and temporarily blind Madison Snow who was preparing to put a lap on to the #70 at T11-T12.
Winner – #78 Forte Racing (GTD): Misha Goikhberg and Loris Spinelli
An unexpected triumphant appeared in the form of the #78 Lamborghini which conducted a strong first stint followed by Spinelli’s outstanding race pace to earn him and his co-driver teammate a spot on the podium.
The #78 started in eighth position in-class, 17th overall, as Goikhberg quietly carried out a climb up the order owing to his lack of mistakes, and avoiding those ahead who did so.
Unfortunately for the #78 during the race, they were amongst the competitors who were instructed to pit and change all of their tyres which were running incorrectly on tyre pressures.
Regardless of this mishap, the #78’s progress continued as Spinelli begun his momentum and even set the quickest lap time outright, a 1:44.864, which was almost three-tenths quicker than the next driver Gunn.
During the final run, he fought with Robby Foley of the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 and the pair put on a show together.
It was delightfully concluded when Spinelli claimed the final podium spot ahead of the #77 GTD Pro-entered Porsche and the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG.
