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IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Michelin GT Challenge at VIR GTD preview

IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship stops at Virginia International Raceway this weekend for the all GT classes Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. The GTD field has 14 entries with 13 cars being unloaded after the announcement Starworks Motorsports was pulling their Audi from the event.

Changes in the GTLM Balance of Performance tables for the the VIR weekend in GTD have Audi and Ferrari going on a diet. Audi sheds 20 kg and Ferrari loses 10 kg. McLaren suffers for its improved performance at Road America by losing 4 liters of fuel capacity.

Michelin heads to VIR this weekend supplying GTD competitors will have 8 sets of the MICHELIN Pilot Sport GT S9M commercial tires.

“You have relatively new asphalt, and it still has some color that holds heat fairly well,” said Ken Payne, technical director, motorsport, Michelin North America. “This track has lots of elevation change. There’s a mix of really fast, short duration corners like the climbing esses, and also some long corners like NASCAR. It’s a nice mix of challenging combinations that work the car pretty thoroughly.”

Meyer Shank Racing's Trent Hindman and Mario Farnbacher enter the weekend with a 26-point lead in the IMSA championship, Hindman and Farnbacher have set their sights on taking the No.86 AutoNation Acura NSX GT3 to victory lane. The team has an extensive history of competition at the track, with 17 VIR race outings dating back to 2004 in prototype competition. The Ohio-based team scored two podium finishes in 2009 and 2018 and are aiming to capture its first victory at the 3.27-mile track this weekend.

Farnbacher is coming into the VIR race weekend with two podium finishes in five years, one of which was in 2018 with MSR, co-driving with Katherine Legge.

“VIR is a cool track and since they added the new tarmac it is way more fun,” said Farnbacher. “I also think that the Acura NSX Evo update will help a lot there in terms of the balance of the car. I know that the team had a good test at VIR a couple of weeks ago and I’m really looking forward to continuing our championship fight with just three races to go.”

Hindman’s record at VIR beams with success having competed in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and GT4 America series at the track – scoring four pole positions, three race victories and six podiums. But this weekend’s race will be the first in IMSA WeatherTech competition for the young talent.

“There is quite a lot of confidence in what we have with the Acura NSX GT3 Evo heading to VIR,” said Hindman. “Mario and Katherine (Legge) were able to bring the No. 86 Acura home on the podium at last year’s event and obviously finding ourselves on the podium once again is our goal. We are in a good championship position thanks to the efforts of Mike (Shank), Mario and the entire MSR team and we have to be smart and do our best to protect that.”

Lexus and AIM VASSER SULLIVAN (AVS) are currently in the hunt for the GTD Sprint Cup Championship with just two sprint races remaining on the 2019 IMSA schedule. The Sprint Cup Championship, which includes only the seven sprint races on the schedule, is being closely contested as Lexus is currently second in the GTD manufacturer standings and just two points behind the leader. AVS drivers, Jack Hawksworth and Richard Heistand, are currently second in the Sprint Cup driver standings and their No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 leads the team standings heading into the race at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) this weekend.

Lexus returns to VIR to compete in the second GT-only IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race of the season on Sunday. AVS will make its first visit to VIR but the 17-turn, 3.27-mile road course is no stranger to the Lexus RC F GT3 after having been victorious there last year with former drivers Dominik Baumann and Kyle Marcelli. Jack Hawksworth earned the pole position in the RC F GT3 at VIR last season and ran the quickest GTD lap of the race in the team’s sister Lexus entry.

Jack Hawksworth tested his driving skills in another form of motorsports this month when he recently raced in the NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Hawksworth, driving a stock car for the first time, qualified second in the Joe Gibbs Racing No.18 Supra, led five laps and won the second stage of the 75-lap race before finishing 15th in his NASCAR debut. Hawksworth is quite familiar with the Ohio road course after having won there in the Lexus RC F GT3 with teammate Richard Heistand earlier this year.

“VIR is probably the most fun track on the schedule in terms of driving, it is right up there with Road Atlanta." said Hawksworth "It is a track which suits our Lexus RC F GT3 quite well and one which we have had good speed at both in 2017 and 2018. I am really looking forward to the race. We are very close to the top in both the manufacturers championship and sprint championship, so we'll need a standout result here to keep the pressure on the others.”

Two Porsche 911 GT3 R will compete. The customer team Pfaff Motorsports No.9 tackles the race with Canadians Scott Hargrove and Zacharie Robichon.

Park Place Motorsports ran only a partial season in 2018 thus making its last appearance at VIR in 2017. The 2017 season began and ended a string of tenth-place finishes at the 17-turn, 3.27-mile course. With a history that is less supportive statistically, Park Place Motorsports will rely on its current strength and lineup to lead its way to a possible victory.

As a manufacturer Porsche has taken home the last two wins in the GTD Class. Park Place Motorsports opportunity to shine was cut short at Road America due to circumstances outside the team’s control. However, weeks prior the No.73, piloted by Team Principal Patrick Lindsey and Porsche Works Driver Patrick Long, competed for a podium position. A strong finish will be necessary to keep Park Place Motorsports WeatherTech Sprint Championship hopes alive. The team is currently tied for second and 10 points out of a tie for first.

“The Virginia International Raceway lies in a beautiful part of the USA and is a special location." said Long "The challenge comes from the narrow track, which makes it difficult to overtake. The circuit is technically demanding with fast and slow passages. Since no prototypes will be racing at Virginia, I’m expecting a sprint race from start to finish.”

Fresh from the team’s second podium finish of the year at Road America, Paul Miller Racing aims to take the team’s Lamborghini back to victory lane. VIR circuit has been a happy hunting ground for both team drivers Bryan Sellers and Corey Lewis. Sellers, Madison Snow and Paul Miller Racing won here in 2016, while Lewis took the top step of the podium in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship here the following year in 2017. Sellers also has a pair of podium finishes to his credit at VIR in his American Le Mans Series days.

This weekend will be the third weekend that Sellers and Lewis have teamed up together as a duo aboard the 1st Phorm / Total Lubricants-sponsored No.48. Lewis is standing in for the injured Ryan Hardwick as he recovers from knee surgery.

Lewis quailed second fastest at the last round at Road America and finished second with Sellers aboard the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo. The duo led 35 laps en route to Paul Miller Racing’s second podium of the year.

“VIR is a track that’s been a little bit up and down for us at Paul Miller Racing. But it’s certainly a place that we all love to go. said Sellers "It’s one of the few great facilities and tracks in the whole country and one of the best parts about it is the people. The fans at the races, the management that runs the circuit, it’s just a track like no other."

WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeiland Toni Vilander are heading to VIR. The 17-turn road course that has a combination of turns that reward a strong set-up and driver bravery. The long laps, third longest to Road America and Sebring, on the schedule will have drivers MacNeil and Vilander working hard with the Scuderia Corsa team to get the most out of the No.63 WeatherTech Racing Ferrari this weekend.

"VIR is a great natural terrain road course that really has nearly every kind of turn," MacNeil said. "The fast Esses are a focus for us with the WeatherTech Ferrari's set-up. You also need maximum traction off of the Oak Tree turn to get down that long straight away. We have had a tough season, so with three races to go we would like to put together a string of good results heading into the season finale at Petit Le Mans where we won last year."

Magnus Racing has a score to settle with the Danville, Virginia track. Despite ranking as one of the top tracks on the 2019 schedule, the circuit has been one to haunt the Lamborghini team, leaving a trail of crushed hopes and dreams in her wake. In hopes of bringing some positive energy to Magnus Racing in order shake off the bad luck of previous years, Auric Energy has returned to support the team for the remainder of the season. The residential and commercial energy specialists serve Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and Utah, and previously partnered with the team for various events, including their 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona win.

In 2016, the team finished on the podium at VIR after a strongly-executed run, only to be later excluded from the race results for a ride height infringement. The team again showed an impressive run in 2018, utilizing a different pit stop strategy to lead most of the race until a drive through penalty bumped the team back to seventh. This year, the team enters the competition with the No.44 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO, complete with a new blue livery they debuted in the previous round at Road America. Consistency has been key for Magnus Racing’s success so far this season, earning a top-ten finish in all nine events so far this season, including a podium finish at the Twelve Hours of Sebring.

“The GT-only race weekends always provide a good bit of action for both fans and competitors,” said co-driver Andy Lally. “Hopefully this time, we can deliver another strong performance at VIR and have it pay off with a podium finish, or better yet, a win. We’ve had strong, consistent runs all season, and it would be great to finally grab a win here at VIR.”

The green flag for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR falls at 1:35 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 25th. The two-hour-and-forty-minute is reportedly being broadcast at live on Sunday, Aug. 25, 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM EDT on NBCSN. Qualifying will be available on IMSA.TV Saturday, Aug. 24, 12:15 PM to 1:05 PM EDT.

VIR race Weekend Schedule - Entry list

8/23/19

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