Corvette Racing Wins Duel With Vasser Sullivan At VIR
The #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor won Sunday’s IMSA Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, the second win of the season for the Corvette factory racing team.
Taylor emerged with the lead with 56 minutes remaining as Corvette Racing made the undercut strategy work to its advantage, taking the lead from the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat which had virtually led the entire race to that point.
Barnicoat kept himself within striking distance of Taylor, but the second-generation American driver held on and the yellow ‘Vette took the overall and GTD Pro class victory at VIRginia International Raceway.
Hawksworth and Barnicoat finished second overall, drawing ever closer to the GTD Pro Series Championship with just two races left this year.
The rest of the GTD Pro field finished further back in the pack: The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (Klaus Bachler/Patrick Pilet) was third in class and 12th overall; followed by the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (Ross Gunn/Alex Riberas), and the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon), in 17th after losing two laps due to repairs after a collision between Gounon and Bachler.
Paul Miller Racing, Madison Snow, and Bryan Sellers dominated GTD from flag to flag, to take the fifth win of the season for the #1 BMW M4 GT3, lead a BMW 1-2 finish in GTD – and continue their march towards the 2023 titles.
Snow and Sellers finished third overall and won the class by 12 seconds over the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW (Patrick Gallagher/Robby Foley) which matched its best finish of 2023. A BMW 1-2-3 was on the cards, but with three minutes left, the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Russell Ward/Philip Ellis) got past the #97 Turner BMW (Chandler Hull/Bill Auberlen) for the final GTD podium place, and fifth overall.
The #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus (Frankie Montecalvo/Aaron Telitz) finished fifth in GTD, ahead of “Roxy”, the pink #80 AO Racing Porsche (PJ Hyett/Seb Priaulx).
More to follow
Images courtesy of IMSA
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