Bijoy Garg picked the perfect time to put together the perfect weekend in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.
The 21-year-old Californian won the multi-class sprint series’ second race of the day Saturday afternoon to finish off an impressive sweep that included sitting on the pole position for both 45-minute competitions. The twin victories unofficially propelled Garg back into the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class championship points lead by 10 points with two rounds and four races remaining.
Piloting the No. 3 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320, Garg led every lap in both races. His margin of victory in Saturday’s finale was 4.021s over Dan Goldburg, the driver of the No. 73 JDC MotorSports Duqueine D08 and the LMP3 points leader heading into the weekend.
“Feels amazing!” Garg said after earning his fourth win of the season and second weekend sweep following Sebring International Raceway in March. “Two-for-two today, big margin of win in both races. I’m really happy with that and we’re back in the points lead. I think we have the speed for the rest of the year, so time to go chase the championship.”
Courtney Crone (No. 99 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine) made a daring pass on Dennis Dupont (No. 18 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine) with 20 minutes to go to take third place and held on by less than a half-second at the finish line to secure her third podium finish of the season.
GSX class sees Dubets finish off sweep in series debut
John “JCD” Dubets, competing in the GSX class for GT4-specification cars, raced to his own weekend sweep in the No. 26 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82). Like Garg in LMP3, Dubets started from the class pole both times Saturday and led every race lap for the team based in nearby New Milford, Connecticut.
The 2022 co-champion in the ProAm class of Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, Dubets was elated with the results from his VP Racing Challenge debut.
“This is the day you dream about, right?” he said. “I think we got a track record, a pole and two wins, and it’s the (team’s) home track, so it’s a very special day. I know my team’s very proud and I’m just honored to be a part of the program. They did the work and it showed out on track. It was an absolute blast to be in that thing up front. It’s an absolute rocket ship.”
Dubets’ teammate Jake Walker finished second for the second time Saturday in the No. 24 BMW. Auto Technic Racing took five of the six podium spots in the two races, with Dubets citing “perfect execution from everybody involved” to make it happen.
“I feel like we were in sync,” he said. “Everything was in rhythm, the team was driving, there was all positive energy, didn’t ever feel stressful. I think the results were a reflection of the energy that the camp had.”
Francis Selldorff finished third in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW. Coupled with his fourth-place showing in the morning race, Selldorff took control of the GSX standings, unofficially 90 points ahead of Sebastian Carazo in the No. 27 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport.
The VP Racing Challenge returns to action Aug. 25-27 at VIRginia International Raceway.