Sunday was moving day at the Virginia International Raceway, where Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports made a big move on the WeatherTech Championship in the GTD Pro class.
Coming into Sunday winless for the season, the team’s Alexander Sims emerged with a half-second victory over the charging Albert Costa in the Ferrari 296 GT3 of DragonSpeed Racing. Sims and co-driver Antonio Garcia, emerged with a 53-point lead over their DragonSpeed rival with two endurance races remaining in the season.
The ongoing debate over the rules of the road had mixed results at the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. IMSA Race Director Beaux Barfield called six penalties during the two hour, 40-minute sprint to emphasize the message on zero tolerance for incident responsibility for either blocking or contact on overtaking. If there was any question about leaving enough room for a competitor on the narrow track, a drive-through penalty was the result.
Despite all the drivers receiving messages from their pit boxes about three penalties in the opening laps and warning them to be careful, three more penalties were administered later the race, including one against Klaus Bachler, whose contact sent him off the track. He then had to bring his Porsche 911 GT3 R down the pit road after being charged with the contact. Bachler, who hit the No. 4 Corvette, and co-driver Laurin Heinrich left in third place in the GTD Pro championship with a 191-point deficit after finishing fifth.
The winning Corvette short-pitted on its final stop while the BMW M4 GT3s of Paul Miller Racing, fastest in the first hour, played the long strategy of having more fuel at the finish. “We could just about hold the gap to the BMW which had a significant fuel advantage on us had it stayed green,” said Sims, who pitted shortly before the race’s second full-course caution. That caught out the fastest BMW of Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen. “We were fortunate with that second yellow but I think we just about had the race anyway,” said Sims.
GTD
In GTD, penalties were decisive. Once again, Jack Hawksworth of the Vasser Sullivan team suffered the most for what appeared to be not too much. Hawksworth entered the race with championship ambitions still alive despite a late-race penalty at Road America where both he and Philip Ellis of Windward Racing were ruled guilty in the same incident.
At VIR, in what looked like a racing incident at Turn 4 on the opening lap with the No. 65 Mustang GT3 of Frederic Vervisch, Hawksworth moved past and the Ford driver went through the grass, necessitating a pit stop to clear the radiators of debris. Hawksworth, who won the pole, was in the class lead when called to the pits. “From that point on in a race like this, your day is going to be a difficult because it’s all about track position,” said Hawksworth after co-driver Parker Thompson got in. They finished ninth in class.
A penalty helped the class winners. Windward’s Ellis had the GTD lead in the closing minutes on board his Mercedes GT3-AMG, but was under pressure from Mario Farnbacher. The Ferrari driver was then called for blocking to protect against being overtaken by Kenton Koch’s Ferrari for second place. That left Ellis to cruise to Winward’s third victory of the season.
Ellis and co-driver Russell Ward now lead the GTD standings by 171 over Casper Stevenson of Heart of Racing, whose Aston Martin Vantage GT3 came home third.
Like the winning Corvette, Winward took the lead after short-pitting before the day’s second safety car period. “Without the awesome pit stop our guys put in, I don't think we would be up here,” he said. “So hats off to the Winward crew for getting us back up there (to the front).”
The wildest and most dangerous ride of the day belonged to Danny Formal, whose Lamborghini Huracan GT3 went off at the Roller Coaster corner after catching fire.
Due to an apparent failure in the car’s fuel system, Formal was suddenly surrounded by flames and his car spun off on the outside of Roller Coaster, sliding across the grass before crashing into the tire barrier.
Having apparently activated the on-board fire extinguisher, he escaped through the driver’s side door as the rear of the car was engulfed by fire. The IMSA safety crew arrived to extinguish the flames but Formal was long gone, having crawled over the safety barrier on the outside of the track in search of cool air.
Formal walked to the safety vehicle. “I have some face burns on my lips and my cheeks, but I'm okay," he posted on X.
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