The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship visited Virginia International Raceway Saturday afternoon in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. The only classes competing in this race were the GTLM and GTD. On the pole for the race was Fred Makowiecki of the Porsche 911 (GTLM) with a top speed at 177 mph and Corey Fergus (GTD) in the No. 76 Compass Racing McLaren 720S GT3 with a top speed of 111 mph.
In the GTLM class, only six cars competed in this race. It was a battle between Porsche and BMW early in the race. Both the No. 911 Porsche of Fred Makowiecki and the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE of Connor De Phillippi would catch the 911 Porsche but could not get by him for the lead. Phillippi would lose the second position to the 912 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor.
With under an hour left, the 911 Porsche was still leading the race when the team pitted as Nick Tandy took over the ride for Makowiecki. With 17 minutes left, Tandy would bring the 911 car back into pit road for a flat tire, Antonio Garcia would take the lead. Garcia would lead Corvette Racing to their third win of the season by 3.521 seconds over the second-place finisher Bruno Spengler and No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE.
Updated points standings have Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor with a 19-point lead over the No. 912 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber. In third place is the Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, who are one point behind the No. 912 Porsche and 20-points behind Garcia/Taylor.
In the GTD class, fourteen cars competed in this race. Early in the race, the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 driven by Madison Snow made contact with the No. 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 car driven by Frankie Montecalvo with debris flying from Snow’s car to bring out a quick caution.
Not long after A full-course yellow came out for the No. 22 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3, driven by Till Bechtolsheimer, who went off of turn three. Mario Farnbacher would, at one point, take the lead from Robert Foley but would go off into the grass at turn one as Foley resumed the lead.
With under an hour left, Bryan Sellers, Mario Farnbacher, and Lawson Aschenbach were in a heated battle for second place as the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 with Bill Auberlen driving was leading the race.
As time expired, Bill Auberlen would lead the Turner Motorsports BMW to victory by 7.511 seconds over the second-place finisher Mario Farnbacher. For Auberlen, he now has the most career wins in IMSA history, passing Scott Pruitt with 61 wins.
Points standings right now are the No. 86 Acura of Mario Farnbacher/Matt McMurry only up by two points over the No. 14 Lexus team of Jack Hawksworth/Aaron Telitz. With the win, Foley and Auberlen now trail by eighth points to Farnbacher and McMurry.
Next up for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be at Michelin Raceway Road America on Saturday, September 5th, at 11:30 am only on NBC Sports Gold Track Pass.
