Virginia International Raceway is a classic old race track. Its very special, and significant to sports car racing fans, and we are ready for Blancpain GT World Challenge America, race one!
Six drivers within a point in the championship.
Green flag! We're underway! Miguel Molina tries making a move and Alvaro Parente will lead this race. Miguel Molina is probing Parente with Daniel Morad in the Porsche, and Anthony Imperato passes Wolf Henzler. The battle is on, now. Flat out through The Snake, and then, into turn ten for the first time and into Oak Tree. Parente slides wide and Patrick Long is pushing hard. Problems for Anthony Imperato, look. He has a cut tire after running wide over the curbs. Into the Rollercoaster for the first time. Parente defends but has no place to go. Till Bechtelsheimer leads Pro Am over David Asakew and Morad squeezes Molina on the inside, look. Wow. Action hot and heavy early in this race.
Rodrigo Baptista is closing up on the leaders. Bret Curtis in the RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 is running well as Baptista is sideways through Oak Tree. Yikes! Someone else is off the road. David Askew in the #63 Mercedes AMG GT3 it looks like. Down through the Rollercoaster again and through Hog Pen. The Bentley is a big silhouette and being in the aero wash of that car is going to be a bear. Martin Barkey in the Racer's Edge car is in this action, the Acura. Off the road, we see the #19 Ferrari. Cesar Bacarella and Brian Kaminsky bothoff the road and poor old Kaminsky is in the wars early as he continues on in the race. Daniel Morad runs fastest lap of the race at 1:46 dead. Patrick Long is doing his best to catch Alvaro Parente and here comes Rodrigo Baptista, too.
Incident between car #7 and #19 under review according to Race Director, Alain Adam. Daniel Morad is now within striking distance of Baptista as Patrick Long continues reeling in Alvaro Parente, look. No further action on the incident we just saw between Kaminsky and Bacarella. Baptista is sharing the Bentley with Maxime Soulet who won a race here at VIR last year. Through the Snake and into the esses. Flat out. Driving a GT3 car around VIR is very tough according to Ryan Dalziel. Cesar Bacarella is giving the Ferrari 488 GT3 a good run in the Am Cup class. There is a bonus in this class for the Kavana Cup. Poor old Anthony Imperato, it's game over.
Martin Fuentes is Cesar Bacarella's co-driver. Who will blink first on pit stops as we start the process? This is a sweet battle as we watch Parente and Long, being followed by Baptista, Morad, Molina, and Wolf Henzler. Patrick Long is gaining on the Bentley. Wolf Henzler in the sister Alegra Motorsports Porsche is flying as well. Bret Curtis is flying in the RealTime Racing Acura, being hotly pursued by Martin Barkey in a similar car but for a different squad. Bret Curtis had some wins here with Turner Motorsports and won with Jens Klingman in a BMW in a different series. George Kurtz is having a solid run in the DXDT Mercedes AMG GT3.
Henry Schmitt is also running very well in the Cameron Racing BMW M6 GT3. Colin Braun, Kyle Marcelli, and others will take over at pit stop time. George Kurtz went off the road at Oak Tree corner in qualifying, sharing with Colin Braun. Acura took pole at the California 8 Hours for the Intercontinental GT Challenge race you read about, oh, a month or so ago. Till Bechtelsheimer, leads an Acura trio in Pro Am at the moment. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Alvaro Parente still has the lead of this motor race as Daniel Morad fights to chase down the Brazilian Bentley racer.
Bret Curtis still has his hands full with Martin Barkey. He's trying a run down through turn one, and can't quite make it. He's got the inside line but he loses control and gos off the road. Barkey, the Canadian is back on track but could have easily broken something on the car. Yikes! Mike Skeen and Alvaro Parente had a similar dust up here in race one last year. The marshals are reviewing the incident. Daniel Morad is in the lane, with a problem on the Porsche. Not good news. Miguel Molina and Wolf Henzler are now promoted to fourth and fifth. Bret Curtis was hoping Martin Barkey would give it up, but at The Snake, Barkey goes off.
Parente is stretching his margin over Patrick Long. One of the curbs might be breaking up at the side of the road. A sharp edge of concrete could be at the critical point of tire loading on these Pirelli P Zero tires. Ooh! Rodrigo Baptista has binned it! He's in the fence with mega size damage to the Bentley, and Henry Schmitt is also off the track at a different spot in the BMW M6 GT3. Miguel Molina is finally up to third spot. Till Bechtolsheimer is an historic racer in Europe and he races 1950s sports cars like Allard's with very skinny tires, not bigger cars like Can Am or Group C. K-PAX has purchased a third Bentley if they need it. Poor old Baptista has crunched the Bentley as Schmitt's incident was a spin off into no man's land on the grass.
Henry Schmitt will pick up some ground and so will Daniel Morad who remains on the lead lap. This will be a long yellow for cleanup and we might see the pit stop window delayed by the safety car. We've had some safety cars in the touring car races as well, which you will see later. Rodrigo Baptista will take a hit in the points championship after this melee. Team manager Darren Law is just as unsure about what happened as the rest of us are. But, it's game over for the Saturday race for Baptista, and the crew will rebuild for the Sunday race tomorrow. Alvaro Parente will hand the sister car to Andy Soucek, soon.
There was no issue with a cut tire. We are approaching a half hour into this hour and a half timed race. There's very little runoff once you are committed to the corner in the part of the road where Baptista shunted. Small mistakes are punished. This is an old school circuit with gravel traps or paved runoff areas. This track will bite you if you aren't careful. You can't try to go outside track limits because there are none. Pit stops will be coming very soon. Giddy up and go. Cinch down the belts, get up on the wheel, and floor it. Last year, the leader could pit first. But at 40 minutes in, everyone has the opportunity to go for the undercut. Henry Schmitt is a lucky chap and he's recovered.
Daniel Morad has stayed on the lead lap. You are allowed a joker tire if one of the original tires is damaged. Go! We're back to green and Miguel Molina is trying to swallow up Patrick Long who i splaying defense against the Spaniard. Yikes! The tire degradation has equalized things for the Ferrari and he has to keep up with the leaders. 55 minutes to go. Drive through penalty assessed to the #43 car for causing a collision. Bret Curtis has to head through the lane to serve his penalty. Daniel Morad is slicing through the field, getting around Bret Curtis. Curtis is in the lane for the penalty. So, he will take his pit stop separately as Martin Barkey tries the outside of George Kurtz.
Cesar Bacarella, Am class leader is in this with a bird's eye view, too. David Askew spins the Mercedes AMG GT3, the #63 DXDT car. Parente is really struggling for grip between turns 11 and 12. Wolf Henzler is pushing, too, but he will also be penalized for overtaking before the start/finish line on the restart. Each championship will have different rules. You can't poke your nose out until the green flag waves. Till Bechtelsheimer is fifth in the overall at the moment. He is running really well. Morad has to duck for the lane. So, take your medicine, get it over, and strategize the rest of the race which has only 51 minutes left on the board.
Six minutes to go before the pit window opens. Patrick Long was able to stay with Alvaro Parente, but now, he is falling into the clutches of the Ferrari of Miguel Molina, sharing with Toni Vilander. The pit window is now open. Who blinks first? Parente extends his lead gap, but only by a smidgen. 60 seconds is the minimum pit stop time for the car to be stationary in the lane. Where do you come out of the lane in terms of traffic? You don't want to be the first bloke to bail if you are in the lead group. Acura #80 in the lane and Kyle Marcelli takes over the car from Martin Barkey. Bacarella, Schmitt, and Kurtz are also in the lane.
Some teams have had slow stops leaving 15-20 seconds on the table, which will ruin their races, possibly. Scott Hargrove takes over the Wright Motorsports Porsche from Patrick Long. Team mate Anthony Imperato is out. It was game over for Imperato after losing drive right at the start. Acura and RealTime are in the pit lane as well. They need to cut the stop close to the 60 second minimum as Dane Cameron takes over the car, an Acura factory driver. Till Bechtelsheimer hands his car to Ryan Eversley. Ryan Dalziel has taken over from David Askew and Dane Cameron takes over from Bret Curtis.
Alvaro Parente brings in the Bentley. Andy Soucek is now at thwe wheel, and the Spaniard will have his hands full with Scott Hargrove. Hargrove knows he must apply the blowtorch. Soucek has to fight. The second half of this race is well and truly on, and it's going to be a barn burner. Scott Hargrove makes the pass after Soucek gets caught behind traffic. We see Toni Vilander taking over the R. Ferri Ferrari from Miguel Molina, and it's a slow stop. This is bad news for the R. Ferri boys. Marco Holzer takes over for Wolf Henzler. Where was the initial delay for R. Ferri? Not good execution on their pit stop.
Daniel Morad also had issues when he turned the Alegra Porsche over to Michael de Quesada. Kyle Marcelli may be the Pro Am leader now. Vilander will be flying. He will be quite upset with the pit crew if they did make an error. Ryan Eversley also had a bad pit stop. Oh dear! More off course action for Andy Soucek and now, Scott Hargrove is reeling him in hand over fist! Andy Soucek had a bad time at the Bathurst 12 Hours and they benched him for the California 8 Hours. He can't be making mistakes in the sprint series here in the states either. Scott Hargrove is reeling in the Bentley. He's in good shape on the tires.
Tire degradation is something you have to be aware of. How much do you want to take out of the tires in order to attack? Attack, and then settle down. Attack, and then, settle down. Soucek kisses the curb through the Oak Tree corner. What happened to R. Ferri? Team manager Enrico Deanno says there was a delay with the driver change with the seat belts, the radio, and the HANS device. Toni Vilander just has to push, push, push. If he's ticked off, he's going to fly. Vilander is not an icy cool Finn here. He will be thrashing to catch up to Marco Holzer who has the final step on the podium, currently.
Andy Soucek has responded and put in some really quick laps, and the margin over Scott Hargrove has ballooned slightly. Rodrigo Baptista is OK. But, as we know, it is game over for him for Saturday anyway. The car can definitely be repaired for Sunday's race two. Folks, for race two, yours truly will have it covered. But, it is not clear when that will be. Stay tuned for race two, sometime tomorrow, maybe in the evening. Ryan Dalziel and Dane Cameron have both made their way past Martin Fuentes, but the gap is growing between the two aforementioned drivers, the Scotsman and the American, both who have plenty of experience battling each other in prototype cars as well as these GT3 machines.
Dalziel has taken the DXDT Mercedes over from David Askew. Dalziel is a great driver coach as well, for younger, up and coming drivers. Andy Soucek knocks down fastest lap of the motor race at 1:44.5, extending the gap on Scott Hargrove as Martin Fuentes leads the Am class and has to go for the Kavana Cup as well. Whoa! Fuentes went wide and fortunately kept it on the tarmac. Yikes! Hargrove is eating time out of Soucek's advantage. They got caught behind Greg Liefooghe in the BMW M6 GT3. Liefooghe is a quick driver, but he was surely a mobile chicane for a bit. It's on edge stuff through the Roller Coaster and through Hog Pen as well.
It is a sure rivalry between Patrick Long and Alvaro Parente. They are respectful but it is still a rivalry. The two of them raced for the same karting team in Italy a quarter century ago. How time flies. An American and a Portuguese, go karting together, in Italy. How about that. One drives a German car, and one, a British one. Left hand drive vs. right hand drive, and well, we could continue but the list would take forever. Scott Hargrove was quickly recognized, and he has made a name for himself competing against Porsche factory drivers. Hargrove still races with Pfaff Motorsports in a different championship. Chris Cagnazzi spins the #19 Ferrari and continues on his way.
Warning flag to the #19 car for driving standards infractions from the SRO stewards. Vilander has increased his gap over Holzer. Kyle Marcelli is only five seconds ahead of Ryan Eversley in a 1-2 for Acura in Pro Am at the moment. Marco Holzer is back after getting started earlier with Porsche, and falling off the radar, slightly. He's back now, teamed with Wolf Henzler. Hargrove is pushing Soucek as Soucek's tires might just be knackered by now. Just over 20 minutes to go in the race. K-PAX and Bentley had a solid test session here at VIR as Christopher Cagnazzi has taken another turn on the whirligig. Meantime, Andy Soucek is still being hounded by Hargrove. The Canadian is flying, chasing the Spaniard.
Michael de Quesada moves over to let the leaders by. Hargrove had to be telling de Quesada, "you are a Porsche driver, mate. Help me out here." Hargrove is slower than Soucek through the speed trap. Soucek might be able to catch this slower Ferrari. No worries. Marco Holzer is hanging in there, holding off Toni Vilander. Colin Braun is chipping away the margin over Ryan Eversley as well. Dalziel passes Plumb in Pro Am. Dane Cameron and Ryan Dalziel were battling with Matt Plumb. Scott Hargrove has gone off the road at Oak Tree corner! It's the same place on the road where Rodrigo Baptista had his issues. Speeds in, loses the tail, over the dirt, and... bang, into the wall!
The engine is still running but poor old Scott Hargrove can't select a gear. He can't get reverse and so, this could be game over. We will have a Full Course Yellow, and a reset with just twelve minutes left on the board. Racer's Edge team boss John Mirachi is still confident his team can score a good finish. Will this race restart? We are coming close to the end and maybe we'll end under yellow. I have a feeling we will see racing before the checkers. Toni Vilander, if his tires are not busted, he'll go after Marco Holzer. We might just have about a one lap shootout to the finish. Good job. Safety car in this lap. Kudos to the SRO. We're going to keep racing. Holzer is two cars behind Soucek. That's Michael de Quesada in the sister car.
Marco Holzer is going to have a tough old time trying to pass two cars and having Toni Vilander right on his six. From fourth on back, this will be fierce. Five minutes to go, blokes. Cinch down the belts and we are going to have ourselves a green flag and a one lap shootout. No games. Put the welly down and go. Yes! It's go time! VIR race one on the line. Don't pass until the stripe. Matty Plumb has gone around Ryan Dalziel who gets swamped. Kyle Marcelli has passed Toni Vilander! Wow! Poor old Toni Vilander will be seething inside his helmet. The ice has melted inside the Finn's psyche. This whole gaggle scrapping with each other has allowed Soucek to whistle off into the distance.
Two laps now remain. Ryan Eversley hanging tough in Pro Am with Toni Vilander all over him. Colin Braun has been shuffled down the order. Dalziel has put some daylight between himself and Eversley. Vilander ran wide on the restart and Marcelli took advantage. White flag out now, and poor old #19 is dinged with another driving standards penalty. Soucek leads Holzer by three seconds. Vilander is behind Eversley who is attacking Marcelli. Vilander is pressing Marcelli, hard. Colin Braun has dropped like a stone. Martin Fuentes has also made his way past Braun as Vilander charges past Marcelli!
Wow! Marcelli will still win Pro Am. Ryan Eversley is closing up. It'll be an Acura 1-2 in Pro Am, but Bentley win! K-PAX are race one winners! Alvaro Parente and Andy Soucek! In Pro Am, it is the #80 Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 of Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli taking the victory, and in the Am class, the #7 Squadra Corsa Garage Italia Ferrari 488 GT3 in the hands of Cesar Bacarella and Martin Fuentes.
Overall/Pro: #9 Parente/Soucek K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3
Pro Am: #80 Barkey/Marcelli Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3
Am: #7 Bacarella/Fuentes Squadra Corsa Garage Italia Ferrari 488 GT3
Matt Plumb gets a 30 second time penalty. Race two takes place here at VIR tomorrow. So, stay tuned for that. Yours truly will have a race report, hopefully tomorrow evening, telling all about race two.
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