VIRginia International Raceway hosts the lone GT-only IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event of the year, with 23 cars – nine GTD PRO and 14 GTD – ready to tackle the 3.27-mile, 17-turn road course for a 2h40m race, the final sprint race of the season. The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled for a green flag at 12:10 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Drivers generally love VIR, especially those that have had success there, including Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia.
“I personally like this racetrack,” said Garcia, who holds four of Corvette Racing’s six victories at VIR, including a GTD PRO victory with Jordan Taylor last year.
“Corvette Racing has always been successful there. I don’t know if it’s only because we only run alone there as a GT-only race, and that probably helps to keep everything tidy as far as strategy and the classes aren’t shuffling the order too much. It suited the C7.R. It definitely suited the C8.R. So I’m looking forward to going back there and seeing where we are.”
This will be the first time for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R at VIR in IMSA competition, but DXDT Racing scored a pair of victories at the track in Fanatec GT World Challenge America this summer with the car, courtesy of Garcia’s teammate Tommy Milner and Alec Udell.
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For the Michelin GT Challenge, Milner will pair with Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4, while Garcia and Alexander Sims look for their second win of the season in the No. 3.
Garcia and Sims will be hoping to move up from the current fourth in the standings, currently led by Laurin Heinrich in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. Heinrich will be joined in ‘Roxy’ at VIR by Klaus Bachler.
Ross Gunn is currently second in the GTD PRO points standings, 76 points off Heinrich. Gunn, co-driver Alex Riberas and the Heart of Racing Team have yet to see victory for their Aston Martin Vantages at VIR, but Gunn holds the unique position of having the track record in both GTD PRO and GTD at the track. He set the GTD record in 2021, and the GTD PRO record the following year after the creation of the GTD PRO class.
“We are getting into the business end to the season, so getting points is a massive priority for the weekend,” said Gunn. “I always love racing at VIR; it’s Uphill Esses is my favorite part of the track. It always makes for a great race as well, especially with the race being GT only. We’ve been on a good run recently, where we were able to close a bit of the gap in the championship. The aim is to keep closing that gap this weekend.”
Fresh off their first victory as driving partners for Turner Motorsport, Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher would like to solidify their second-place position in the GTD points and hopefully decrease the margin to leaders Russell Ward and Philip Ellis for Winward Racing. The good news for them is that the BMW M4 GT3 and its predecessors have often been strong at VIR – Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won at VIR last year for Paul Miller Racing in the No. 1 M4. Of course, WInward has success at the track as well, Ward and Ellis taking victory in 2022.
“I think heading into VIR, we’ve always been strong there, BMWs in particular,” Foley said. “I think with the GT only race, it changes the dynamic a little bit – probably less likely to have yellows and things like that. So hopefully we can play to our strengths with our with our M4 GT3 and and have a strong weekend there.”
VIR is one of Foley’s favorites, thanks to the technicality of the circuit and the variety it presents.
“It’s one of the old-school American tracks that is high speed with pretty high commitment,” he said. “But it’s also technical. Sometimes the quicker tracks – like, I love Road America as well, it’s also one of my favorites, but I would say it’s not quite as technical as VIR.
“VIR definitely keeps you busy. Your car has to be really kind of dialed to different types of corners: high speed, low speed. You need a really specific kind of balance there to be quick. So for me, I love the first sector that leads into the Essess and the Upper Esses; super technical, and you get into some faster corners. For me, the track has everything. And I always just like the way the track races. It is difficult to pass, like it is anywhere these days in these these cars. But I think that track always produces pretty good racing.”
The weekend for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors gets underway on Friday afternoon, with the first free practice scheduled for 2 p.m. ET. The second practice takes place on Saturday morning, with qualifying at 4:50 p.m. Saturday, streamed live on Peacock and on IMSA.tv. The 2h40m race will be carried live on USA Network and streamed on Peacock beginning at noon Eastern, as well as on IMSA.tv and YouTube.com/IMSAOfficial outside the U.S. IMSA Radio will have commentary during select sessions on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com, and SiriusXM live race coverage begins at noon (XM 206, Web/App 996).