For the second time this season in 2021, we have an all GT
race in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, today, coming to you from
Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, where it all started for
IMSA as a sports car racing sanctioning body, dating back to 1971, two years
after IMSA as a whole, was founded.
Taking center stage today, as they did in July at Lime Rock Park in
Lakeville, Connecticut, will be the GT classes, for GT Le Mans (of which we
have three entries), and the bulk of the field, in GT Daytona, for the GT3
cars. Sports cars on a Saturday on one
of the most beautiful tracks you can find.
The championship fight is on in both GT Daytona and GT Le Mans. The battle is on between the Pfaff
Motorsports Porsche, the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini, the Turner Motorsports
BMW, the Wright Motorsports Porsche, and The Heart of Racing Aston Martin
Vantage.
There was a lot of rain earlier in the day. But in moments, when we start, we will see
idea conditions. Three GTLM cars and 15
GTD cars. Nine manufacturers are
represented. We join Leigh Diffey and
Calvin Fish in the commentary box for this race. No prototypes in the race today. This is only the second time GT class drivers
will vie for overall victory. An old
school track requiring big commitment on a patchy road. Five teams are going for the championship title
and Zacharie Robichon makes a mega sized error in The Rollercoaster. You can’t touch the car after getting back
into the pit lane. So the team was
penalized.
Who is your favorite brand?
You will see it all in the race today at VIR. Again this track has been around since
1957. It is a true classic. The cars are on their formation and pace laps
at this moment. Mixed conditions will be
a big deal. The #3 yellpw Corvette C8.R
has the championship locked up and Tommy Milnder and Nick Tandy are looking for
a victory. These two Corvette’s will be
hounded today by the #79 WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR-19 in the hands of Cooper
MacNeil and Kevin Estre. The GT Daytona
points race is indeed a hot one.
Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen had a horrid race at Long
Beach, California, last time out. How
will things shake out? Pfaff Motorsports
need to be pushing as they are just 32 points ahead of Paul Miller Racing and
104 ahead of The Heart of Racing Aston Martin, with 350 points on offer for a
win and bonus points for qualifying.
Tommy Milner and Robby Foley are the two class polesitters. We have an 18-car field here. Keep an eye on Madison snow. Now, what are our keys to the motor race
today? Respect the boundaries of track
limits because here at VIR, the grass is the defining track limits boundary and
it’s been wet, so, skating off the road onto the grass will be no picnic.
Watch your gauges, especially the fuel gauge. We could see this come down to a fuel mileage
race in the waning moments. Keep an eye
to the sky as well because we could very well see raindrops during the motor
race today, too. We are getting set to
go. The safety car is in the lane. Green flag and away we go! Tommy Milner gets the jump and Jordan Taylor
wants to make the move. Here comes Robby
Foley to the inside of Cooper MacNeil already!
Madison Snow is pushing hard too as we see the two Vasser Sullivan Lexus
RC F GT3’s. Through The Snake for the
first time and into the esses at 170+ miles an hour. There’ risk and reward. Again, there’s only grass on the outside.
The undulations of this track are unreal. Richard Heistand moves up in the #39 CarBahn
with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 and he is skipping away from the next battle
which is the #23 Aston Martin for Heart of Racing, Roman De Angelis at the
keyboard, putting the pressure on one of the Vasser Sullivan Lexus cars, the
#14 entry, into the Rollercoaster for the first time of asking. Still on cold tires. Aaron Telitz is driving the #14 Lexus right
now. Heistand will defend from Telitz
offline on the wet portion of the road. Turn three, medium sped, but watch out for the
painted curbs being wet.
In the meantime, Jordan Taylor now leads Tommy Milner by a
second and a half and we’ve barely just started the race here at VIR. Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia won the
title in 2020. They’ve won 50% of the
races since the car debuted, but, they have not won for a while, in about three
events. The #4 car will be in fuel save
mode and I believe the #3 will as well.
Coast into the braking zones and roll of the power a wee bit
sooner. We can see in replay that the
two Corvette’s side by side were struggling for traction on the damp racing
surface. This is a classic over under
move.
Robby Foley in the defneidng race winning BMW for Turner
Motorsports leads GT Daytona as we have a whole pack of GT Daytona entries
scraping with each other Aye yaye yaye, the sister #12 Lexus is off the road,
spinning. What did I say about wet
grass? Well, the #12 Lexus rotates. That is the car of Frankie Montecalvo and
Zach Veach. Not sure who of those two
drivers is at the wheel. He’s skating
across the grass trying to find the racijg line again and now more scrapping as
the Lambirghini is going to be swallowed up in moments a dnw e see damage, look,
to the #12 entry.
The left front fender has been loosened up as the team goes
for more slick Michelin tires. The front
bodywork on the left corner will have to be taped up as well. Aston Martin #23 is going to make a move on
the sister Lexus, car #14. The #1
Lamborghini also lies dead ahead. We can
see the #39 Audi monstering the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW as well. This is hot and heavy action right from the
get go. #12, Frankie Montecalvo, he is
still wounded. Now, in replay, we see
Montecalvo spun at the off camber turn at Hog Pen. There’s a steep incline off that turn as
well.
Montecalvo says the car is fine. It isn’t good to lose a lap ten minutes into
this sprint race. We can see Robby Foley
being harried big style by Richard Heistand.
These two are still at it.
Heistand does not lift. The skid
blocks are dragging on the pavement.
These two blokes came together at Long Beach last time out. CarBahn is new to the WeatherTech
Championship having begun racing in the championship at Mid-Ohio back in
May. We can see Aaron Telitz in the
sister Lexus moving up and is pressuring Madison Snow while Roman De Angelis in
the Aston Martin is flying as well.
Another V8 front engine car in the Aston Martin as well as the Lexus and
the BMW.
Ian James, team leader and manager, he is in the sister car,
and he is also a driver manager. Ian
James sharing the sister car with Alex Riberas while De Angelis has Englishman
Ross Gunn as his co-driver. De Angelis
has more straightaway speed but can’t quite make it work. De Angelis dominated Porsche Carrera Cup
Canada before coming to the WeatherTech Championship. This is the final sprint event of the season. Aaron Telitz is only concerned about winning
this race. He does not care about the
championship contenders. But Zacharie
Robichon is moving up after the qualifying kerfuffle.
At Pfaff Motorsports, they can’t change their mindset. They must keep doing what they’ve been
doing. Trent Hindman is doing triple
duty running other championships here at VIR in addition to the WeatherTech
Championship. He has to figure out where
the dry patches on the road are. Michael
de Quesada is next up after Robichon in the #28 Alegra Motorsports Mercedes AMG
GT3. Right now, Jordan Taylor is leading
the motor race ahead of teammate Tommy Milner.
With no prototypes in this race this weekend, it opens up a world of
opportunity for the GT class competitors.
Pit stop time now for the #79 WeatherTech Porsche and we see
a driver change as well as tires and fuel.
Slick Michelin tires and it looks like it will be Cooper MacNeil I
believe, getting into that automobile for
stint after Kevin Estre did the opening drive, or is it the other way
around? In the meantime, the GTD scrap
is hot and heavy as we see the Pfaff and Wright Motorsports Porsche’s chasing
the Alegra Motorsports Mercedes. You can
see the flowing and undulating nature of this race track from the onboard
camera as the GTLM leaders are now working their way into the GT Daytona
traffic.
The two Corvette’s continue playing follow my leader
here. There’s been no real change
between these two blokes since the race began.
Meanwhile, the Porsche’s are giving the Mercedes ahead all he can handle
and then some. VIR is a beautiful piece
of property which lay dormant for a quarter century but has been back in
business for a good while. This place is
like a motorsport resort. Yes
indeed. Cooper MacNeil did hand over the
#79 Porsche to Kevin Estre. So, indeed
everything was right. But, MacNeil said
that the driving conditions in slick conditions, are very sketchy.
MacNeil is a multiple Ferrari Challenge champion. MacNeil has stepped up from GT Daytona which
is a Pro Am class. Risk vs. reward. That is the deal. Antonio Garcia has won races here at VIR
three times. Tommy Milner will be next
into the #4 Corvette to take over from Nick Tandy. #3 is on the verge of going back to back in
the championship department, but the #4 car has won a couple of races in class
already. 50% of the wins have gone to
#3, and finally, #4 won twice this year.
Four times, actually, with the Roar qualifying race and the Rolex 24 at
Daytona plus a few more.
Now then, we have the mid pack battle still raging as Trent
Hindman is sizing up Michael de Quesada to make a move. Porsche vs. Mercedes. A very unique, sonorous engine note from the
Porsche when the differential is loaded up.
de Quesada is sideways through turn ten!
Egad! He saved it! If you lose it at turn ten, you are going for
a king size ride! Holy cow! In replay, we can see he has the rear end
step out, and he almost spun off the road into turn 11 through Oak Tree
corner. There used to be an oak tree
there, but it is no longer. Maybe another
one will grow there in the future.
Zach Robichon is pushing hard. Daniel Morad is Michael de Quesada’s teammate,
and he will take over the #28 car eventually.
But now, the dominoes begin to fall, and it is pit stop time, look, as
Tommy Milner is in. He is covering off
the #79. Everyone is on Michelin tires,
but GTLM has options on tire compounds.
Tommy Milner will hand the car over to Nick Tandy. He nearly won this race last year in a
factory Porsche. Soft tires will give
you bite on a damp track but when the aggregate dries out, that means the tires
will begin to overheat in a hurry.
Maximum fuel rate for GTLM under green flag is 58
minutes. Tandy has won races here at VIR
twice. It reminds him of the tracs he
grew up on in England. Now, Michael de
Quesada continues to hold on over Trent Hindman. Hindman makes the move stick as de Quesada
has to give it up. The GT Daytona cars,
based on the GT3 platform, have ABS brakes which will make it easier for them
if the weather gets damp and we see raindrops.
Tommy Milner first raced at VIR way back in 2004. So he knows his way around here. He says his strategy was affected quite a bit
or the team’s strategy. They need a
yellow for everything to work according to plan. They had the wrong engine mapping when the
green flag flew. Again, they are indeed
hoping for a yellow with two hours and ten minutes to go yet. We are only half an hour into this race. There’s still damp places on the road but the
track is drying. We shouldn’t see as
much rain as previously thought.
We can see a battle simmering along very nicely as Madison
Snow is reeling in Richard Heistand.
Audi vs. Lamborghini. These cars,
both equipped with the 5.2 liter normally aspirated V10 motor. So, this should be equal footing and come
down to aerodynamic efficiency of the bodywork as well as driver skill. Heistand and his team went for grip and kept
their trie pressures down. Madison Snow
and Bryan Sellers have won a race here in 2016.
Snow missed racing with his teammate in 2019. They won the Rolex 24 in GT Daytona in 2020
(a race yours truly attended), and it took them 608 days to get back to victory
lane, through the pandemic and everything, and they sealed the deal last time
out at Long Beach on the legendary street course.
That of course, was a race that my pals at Action Express
(not racing here today), won overall, if you saw it or read about it. Anyhow, onward from the editorial comments,
and Bryan Sellers for sure said that he and the team at PMR don’t want to wait
another 600+ days for a victory. Madison
Snow, in replay… smash! He hits some
bodywork on the way to the Oak Tree corner!
Now let’s hope that didn’t do damage to the Lamborghini in any way. That carbon fiber can be super sharp and it
can cut down a tire easily.
Former GTLM racer Joey Hand (who raced for BMW and for
Ford), will be in the roval event for the NASCAR Cup Series at Charlotte Motor
Speedway tomorrow while we bring you coverage of the Michelin Pilot Challenge
event at VIR. Jordan Taylor continues in
the lead of the motor race and in GTLM.
Jordan Taylor, meanwhile, is still scything his way through GT Daytona
traffic. Next year, we will see the GTLM
class go away, and we will see two levels of GTD with a Pro class joining the
regular division. It will be all GT3
spec cars in IMSA GT competition in 2022.
We ride onboard the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3. This is the car of Britain’s Till
Bechtolsheimer and Germany’s Mario Farnbacher.
Bechtolsheimer at the controls now, monstering Guy Cosmo in the #32
Gilbert Korthoff Mercedes AMG GT3. They
will likely go to a full-time program next year. Comso runs wide as Bechtolsheimer has a bite
of the cherry and wants to move in for the pass. Cosmo sharing the #32 Mercedes with Mike
Skeen. It is a single lane road up the
hill here as the tires are beginning to fall off a wee bit.
Turn ten, big compression.
Now, here comes Madison Snow, moving in on Richard Heistand. Wouldn’t it be amazing if Paul Miller Racing
could win the title. These teams get
only four test days a year due to the COVID pandemic situation. Kevin Estre is slicing his way through the
field like a hot knife through butter, but they need a yellow indeed. The schedule for this race has been
condensed. PMR lost the whole session in
Free Practice 1 due to an electrical issue and the car was not downshifting. The car was improved and tweaked in Free
Practice 2 and prior to this race.
The minimum drive time in GTD will be 45 minutes. Turner Motorsports have been turning things
around since their accident at Long Beach last time out. Turner Motorsports built into the plan the
fact they knew they’d have bad luck and good luck, both. Let things fall where they may. Bill Auberlen has not won a championship
title since 2004. It’s been 17 years, a
major dry spell. The top seven cars are
within two seconds of each other in GTD and we are looking at lap times in the
1:47 bracket I believe. Whoops. John Potter has a quick spin aboard the #44
Magnus Racing Acura NSX GT3.
Potter gets stuck on the wet grass. He is able to get the car going, thankfully.
Magnus Racing has not had the season they wanted in 2021. They have competed in many different GT3 cars
over the last decade or so. Potter made
a quick recovery and is now back on the button.
Team manager Mike Johnson and Andy Lally first worked together some 20 years
ago. Meanwhile, Bryan Sellers says that
as usual, Madison Snow is delivering and the car is running well, third behind
the Audi.
All things are equal with the Lambo and the Audi, and the
BMW and Aston will play a factor. What
will happen in the next sequence? We’ll
find out. PMR are glad to have the
monkey off their back. Everything has to
be done correctly in order to win. Sports
car racing, you can hear from both drivers during the race. Poor old Till Bechtolsheimer, in the esses,
spins off the road, rotating two or three times. So, he took a turn on the whirligig and is
now in the lane, replacing his square tires.
The car didn’t sustain much damage as we have Jordan Taylpr
and Corvette Racing whistling off into the distance. We continue to watch this three-way battle
for position between the Audi, the Lamborghini, and the Aston Martin. Things are really tightening up as the GTD
cars get closer to the GTLM machines.
Now we see the Grasser Lamborghini and the Gilbert Korthoff Mercedes
cars both in the lane for fuel, tires, and driver changes. Wow!
One of the Lexus RC F GT3’s leans on The #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX
GT3.
Also, the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW hits the pit lane for
fuel, tires, and a driver change. Robby
Foley hands the wheel to Bill Auberlen, the winningest driver in IMSA
history. Roman De Angelis has caught
Madison Snow. Richard Heistand leads as
the gap is closing and fast. We are
nearly an hour into this sprint race.
Just shy of a full fuel load for Foley and company at Turner
Motorsports. Farnbacher is trying to
stay on the lead lap as Zacharie Robiuchon almost gets caught in the grass!
This is unbelievable! What wild
stuff! So, Aaron Telitz gets snookered.
Telitz is pressing Mario Farnbacher, two-time GT Daytona
champion in 2019 and 2020. Farnbacher
knows he can’t give it up. If Robichon and
Telitz would have been further offline, he would have spun. Speaking of spinning Porsche’s, we see a
little contact between Katherine Legge in the #88 Team Hardpoint Porsche 911
GT3R and the identical car of Trent Hindman.
That is the #16 Wright Motorsports entry. The leading #3 Corvette is in pit lane, and
Jordan Taylor will hand the car to Antonio “The King of Spain” Garcia.
The #39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 is in the pit
lane and now, Jeff Westphal will take over the car from Richard Heistand. Something went wrong with the #3 Corvette
stop. They had the wrong tire on the
wrong side of the car! Yikes! So that will put the cat among the pigeons on
strategy. The left rear was taken to the
right and vice versa. Gosh. That is unexpected. No tire warmers in IMSA, so the out laps are
run on stone cold tires. Car control is
the key to it all. Bill Auberlen is now
pressing Jeff Westphal as Westphal goes off the road at turn ten!
So, Auberlen has to give the track psotion back after that incident
and Jeff Westphal was jolly lucky to get away with going off the road! Auberlen and Westphal committed to the same
bit of road and Westphal got way off track with the slip angle on the tire on
the road to the lefthand side.
Sheesh! That was close! Auberlen was put in a position to bluff
Westphal. Richard Heistand says the team
needs a yellow. They were not happy with
a sloppy pit stop. He is very frustrated
in this race so far. Pit stop time now
too for both championship contenders at Pfaff Motorsports and Paul Miller
Racing.
Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing are also in. Richard Heistand says they took a lot of
risks but have had other cars that are running quicker. GTD has a very deep field and giving up track
position is a killer. CarBahn with
Peregrine Racing are being realistic.
Two weeks ago, at Long Beach, Heistand and Foley got together. So, these two teams are on thin ice with each
other for the second race in a row. The
competition is unbelievable. Bryan
Sellers and Laurens Vanthoor, both, are making hay while the sun shines. Speaking of making hay, Auberlen is right on
Sellers’ six for the lead in GTD!
Goodness! This battle is a must
watch!
Sellers tries choosing a lane to make it harder for Auberlen
to pass. Can Auberlen move in? Nope.
He’s too committed to the corner.
Sellers will heat up his Michelin tires and here’s Auberlen going for
it. These two are fidgeting and fighting
for a championship. Side by side stuff
and Auberlen makes the move! He’s got it.
It was go time indeed there. We
are now an hour into this race. Through
turn three, Auberlen looks inside Sellers, back into the straightaway and the
horsepower of the BMW will be a real advantage through the climbing esses.
This 3 and ¼ mile track is amazing and the battles on the
road show that. Corvette teammates chat
with each other on their breaks from being in the cars as we see Auberlen
pulling away from Sellers while the Lexus and Audi battle in GTD also rages
on. Aaron Telitz fending off the challenge
from Jeff Westphal. This is a front
engine car vs. a rear engine car, or mid-engine car. Mike Wimmer, MENSA member, and IMSA superfan,
he has already graduated high school and college at age 13! This kid is as smart as a whip. Mike is fascinated by the technology of the
Corvette C8.R.
Mike says he can retain information like a sponge and Jordan
Taylor, Corvette driver is amazed by that.
Wow! Jordan Taylor, as a racing
driver, is still going through school while being a racing driver. The tire issue is not yet solved. The whole wheel was broken on the car but the
crew got them back out on track. The car
seems to be in good shape. Antonio
Garcia runs second, 28 and a half seconds behind the sister car in the hands of
Nick Tandy. Corvette Racing knows they
will score back-to-back championships.
But the deal is, each team wants race wins. That is what both #3 and #4 are looking
for.
Milner eked out pole on his teammate by a very fine margin
in qualifying yesterday, on Friday.
Antonio Garcia, a quietly spoken Spaniard, a calm demeanor and a driver
who lets his action on the track speak for itself, much like IndyCar champion
Alex Palou. Patrick Long will do a
single stint in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Trent Hindman is still in the car, chasing
the Mercedes of Daniel Morad. Breaking
down minimum drive time in this race.
The minimum in GTLM is only ten minutes.
It is 45 minutes in GTD and the maximum drive time for GTD is equal to
an hour and 55 minutes.
We have a shade over an hour and a half of the race to go
now. Daniel Morad did win a World
Challenge event here at VIR in a Mercedes back in 2017. He beat Jeroen Bleekemolen that day. No action taken at Race Control on the
earlier incident between Porsche #88 for Hardpoint and Porsche #16 for Wright
Motorsports as Aaron Telitz explains going backwards when the tires began to
fade. Of course, they had the Acura in
the way on cold tires into Oak Tree corner.
Telitz admits there’s nothing he could do as the Porsche’s had a major
head of steam.
So, Trent Hindman is now seventh in the overall and eating
seconds out of his opponents right now. Oh
dear! Acura #66 is now buried in the
tires! Mario Farnbacher in the car, on
the radio back to the team to explain what happened. This is likely to bring out a Full Course
Yellow. Yes indeed. Just as I say that, the double yellow flags
appear. Full Course Yellow, now. Phew!
He’s absolutely buried that Acura in the tires as we see the IMSA AMR
medical rescue vehicle on the way as well as the safety truck with the marshals
to try and dig Bechtolsheimer out of a very sticky situation.
As we’ve said before, once you are off the racing line and
into that wet grass, you are going for a ride.
Mario Farnbacher is fine, but this was a very scary wreck, head on into
the tires at turn 14. Smash! He says on the radio that something broke on
the car. Maybe it was suspension that
failed. Hard to say at this point. Farnbacher should be fine but the car is done
for the day. Game over. The AMR safety team was on the spot
immediately. This track is very edgy at
ten tenths. You are along for the ride
if you go off the road, with mega sized consequences.
The car did not respond to turning right, went straight on,
and slammed the wall, hard! Mario is
substituting for Marc Miller who has a ruptured Achilles tendon after a
training accident. Mario Farnbacher is
OK. But that car is headed for the
scrapyard I’m afraid. The #3 Corvette
has pitted as has the #4 and the #79 Porsche.
So, all three GT Le Mans contenders have made their pit stops as we hear
a bird singing in the background. What
will we see in the GTD pit stop sequence?
Bryan Sellers might have a bigger advantage on pitting than will Bill
Auberlen.
You use a lot of curbs here at VIR. Maybe the suspension on the #66 car
broke. Here comes the land rush of GT
Daytona pit stops. One hour and 17
minutes left on the board. Turner
Motorsports service the car. Auberlen
stays in the car. Tires and fuel. For the #1 Lamborghini, Bryan Sellers takes
fuel only and the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche beats everyone out! Holy smokes!
Laurens Vanthoor said that mid-season they had some troubles. Team boss Steve Bortolotti said “we should
get back to know what we do best.”
That’s apparently their strategy. In a month they will be ready for Petit Le
Mans. So, we are looking ahead here, to
a green flag and a restart before long.
VIR is a fast, flowing, technically demanding and old school track. The trophy for this race has Bibendum, the
Michelin Man, right on the trophy. They
are proprietary and feature our favorite, the Michelin Man. Gold, Silver, and Bronze, on those
trophies. We remain under Full Course
Yellow for track repairs. One hour and
ten minutes remaining yet. So, we will
see at least one more round of pit stops before this motor race is thoroughly
done and dusted.
The field runs single file behind the safety car. We are ready to go back to racing. Franck Perera and Mike Skeen are both out of
sequence. There won’t be enough fuel save to be without one more stop to get
home. Perera and GRT Grasser Racing will
need more fuel. It is a fair fith as we
go back to green, and Garcia might have a puncture as Nick Tandy is door to
door and here comes Kevin Estre! Garcia
didn’t take tires! Estre is on the move
and, wham! He makes contact with Tandy! Deary me.
It’s on now!
The WeatherTech team went massively off strategy. Garcia seems to be in control of the car
now. He is on old tires while his rivals
behind are on fresh Michelin’s. CAoming
to the green, there’s debris that flies up.
There are these huge snowballs of tire debris that build up. Criminy!
That was unbelievable. Tandy was
a Porsche factory driver in 2020. He
does know the strengths of the Porsche. Estre takes exception to Tandy and just
wants to win. They won at Road America
in class and now they want another one.
There’s been a revolving door of factory Porsche drivers like Matt
Campbell and Matthieu Jaminet, who are racing in Europe this weekend.
Maybe Tandy suffered damage to the car now with just over an
hour to go. The last time we saw Kevin
Estre in this car, was at the Rolex 24 back in January. Here comes Estre on Garcia. #3 didn’t take tires. Estre is up on the wheel and he wants the
W. Cooper MacNeil begged Porsche to work
with Kevin Estre. Estre is a trophy driver
for the Porsche factory in the World Endurance Championship. He has had many accomplishments with
Porsche. A Le Mans win and a world
championship. He tested here at VIR last
month and knows the track.
In the meantime, the battle is still hot and heavy in GT
Daytona with Franck Perera, Laurens Vanthoor, and Bill Auberlen. #9 has marched through the field today, starting
in 13th place. By lap four
they were up to seventh. By lap 15,
sixth. On lap 29, they were third, on
the podium in class, and have moved up to second by lap 48, now just 6/10ths of
a second behind Franck Perera. Zacharie
Robichon says he made up for a mistake in qualifying. Charging through the field, Robichon relished
that during his stint.
Laurens Vanthoor will have a good car according to
Robichon. The second half of the stint
is where the Pfaff Porsche seems to shine.
But it is never racking with the Full Course Yellow’s. Less than an hour to go. Nick Tandy is now giving Kevin Estre all he
can handle. Tandy vs. Estre round
two. Ding, ding, ding. Tandy is going to send it. That’s for dead sure. Laurens Vanthoor has moved up eleven places,
while Franck Perera has moved up nine, Patrick Long up six, and Alex Riberas in
the second Heart of Racing Aston Martin, up five places.
Auberlen once again has a head of steam and will do all he
can to move past Vanthoor. He has to
take points out of the #9 car. Perera
and GRT Grasser lead with 58 minutes to go.
They should be in good shape if the pit now as Vanthoor is bounding over
the curbs. Yikes! We’ve seen nonstop action in this event so
far and it’s far from over. We’re not
done yet here at Virginia International Raceway. The Porsche is now the meat in a Corvette
sandwich going for the lead of the motor race.
Estre is pulling out to try to pass Garcia with Tandy now right on his
six as the GRT Grasser Lamborghini hits the lane for fuel and tires.
In the meantime, the battle is still on between Auberlen and
Vahtoor as well. But now, Estre is right
up the tailpipes of the Corvette coming onto the front straightaway. Pit stop time for the #39 Audi. The dominos in GTD begin to fall. Westphal in and out. Vanthoor and Auberlen are scrapping for the
class win. Who will blink first for a
splash and a dash on fuel? That’s what
we need to find out yet. The pit lane
delta is 35 seconds from pit in to pit out.
The action in GTLM is intense and Estre gets to the inside of Garcia,
but no dice.
Estre gets the run through the Snake! That was rough stuff. Rough and rocky traveling, look. Perera is in the way! They dive inside and Tandy pushes Estre off
the road! This will be a boxing
match. The stewards won’t like it. Wow!
Estre makes a savage move, in replay, on Garcia! Yikes!
Estre clearly made a gap that just wasn’t there otherwise. That’s an off road ride! Spicy stuff!
Auberlen knows he has to finish in front of the Pfaff Motorsports
Porsche. The Nick Tandy and Kevin Estre
incident is under investigation by the stewards. In GTD, Jack Hawksworth is fourth behind
Bryan Sellers. The top ten in GTD have
to do massive fuel saving.
Everyone is on the same strategy more or less. They will all need ¼ of a tank. If Tandy was too aggressive, he can’t give
the position back. Estre is third, not
second. Estre is coming, and fast,
though. Will Antonio Garcia, champion
elect, roll over and play dead? Not on
your life, mate. Not on your life. The leaders continue to scythe their way
through GTD traffic. Estre is a bulldog,
he isn’t going to cease and desist. Her
he comes back again at Garcia! Tandy is
pulling away! The cars thrash over the
curbs. Estre makes the move on Garcia,
and he tries to reply but has the door slammed in his face. Or does he?
Well, for the time being he does indeed as Estre is eking
out a gap. Of the 18 cars, only one has
been in real trouble and that was the #66 Gradient Racing Acura. This track was built back in 1957. It is a true classic. 17 corners packed into 3 and ¼ miles. It is only the second GT only event on the
2021 schedule where the prototypes do not race with the GT cars. The first IMSA event here (as this is the
penultimate race on the 2021 schedule), was run 50 years ago on April 18th,
1971, and won by Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood in a Porsche 914/6.
We had Lime Rock Park in Connecticut as the first GT only
race this year. Antonio Garcia is in the
pit lane for fuel and tires and now, they will change to new boots. He is down and away. Just under 44 minutes to go. Estre continues to push, slicing and dicing
through traffic, trying to set up the Audi, dropping the left side tires onto
the grass. Down Madison Avenue and on
into the Rollercoaster. Madison Avenue
is the long backstretch. Tandy is
already down at turn one. The GTLM
Porsche has more power and more aero.
But Estre was 4.3 seconds slower than Tandy. What is that?
It’s all down to traffic. We are
looking at the #27 Ian James and Alex Riberas car at Heart of Racing. This is the last time we will see the second
car because Ian will be in #23 at Petit Le Mans. They’ve done very well supporting Seattle
Children’s Hospital. They are in the
hunt for the overall GTD championship, and they will clinch the Sprint Cup
championship. If we get one more yellow,
that will help with fuel save. Updating
the progress of the #9 Pfaff Porsche, five laps after they inherited second
place on lap 48, by lap 53, they’ve sailed their way to the lead in class.
40 minutes to go.
Pfaff Motorsports have increased the number of races they’ve run with a
single car. They could very well be GTD
champions at the end of Petit Le Mans next month. We will have to wait and find out. They’ve performed to a top level this season
in 2021. A battle for position now
between the #39 CarBahn Audi and the #88 Team Hardpoint Porsche. We also continue to watch the lead battle in
GTLM and focus specifically on Corvette #4.
Oh dear! Oh dear! We are focusing on #4 because poor old Kevin
Estre has thrown it away! Porsche #79 is
in the fence!
Now, he backs up and continues. Is there damage to the car? Those Michelin tires are going to be trashed,
more than likely. The action has been
amazing as we will be finished in half an hour.
One of the Lexus cars will pit soon.
Now, Estre has actually taken the lead of this motor race. Unreal.
He over committed into Oak Tree and stuffed it into the tires. Thud!
There may have been a magnet in those tire bundles. Good gravy.
Unfortunately, the #79 Porsche will be out of contention. Kevin Estre has not raced here in seven
years, since 2014.
Corvette #4 has cycled back to the lead. They are 3.4 seconds ahead of the team car
but it is not going to be a happy day for the WeatherTech Porsche team. All their hard work may go for naught even
though they will finish on the podium.
But they are out of contention for the race victory here in Virginia
this afternoon. Lexus will keep Jack
Hawksworth on track for the time being. Laurens
Vanthoor was placed by Porsche within Pfaff Motorsports. When you see this plaid and silver livery on
the Pfaff Porsche it is very reminiscent of the old Flying Lizard racing team
that campaigned Porsche’s in the American Le Mans Series before the merger
between ALMS and Grand Am that took place in 2014 to form the new IMSA we see
today, and the WeatherTech Championship.
33 minutes to go. Are
Auberlen and Turner Motorsports biding their time with just over half an hour
to race? That could very well be the
case, trying to take the sting out of the disappointment they suffered at Long
Beach a couple weeks ago on the southern California streets. The WeatherTech Sprint Cup involves only GTD
and only the sprint races, excluding all four of the endurance events. Right now, 39 points separate the two top
contenders in this championship within a championship. Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis lead for Heart
of Racing Aston Martin by 39 markers over Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow for
Paul Miller Racing.
Sellers is third. If
he could find the lead, he could snatch the title on a 50 point swing/. We can see Kevin Estre trying to pass Bryan
Sellers, and this is not for position in class.
The action for the lead of GTD is still between Pfaff Motorsports
Porsche and Turner Motorsports BMW. Two
tires are allm you can get with a splash and dash on petrol. Do you stay on hot tires? Do you bolt on two fresh ones? For Pfaff Motorsports, at this stage,
everything is peachy.
Yesterday in qualifying though, Robichon went off the road
and thankfully misses the guardrail. He
has sliced and diced his way through the field.
They did the overcut in pit lane and got the lead, but he is being
harried and hounded by the BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen. Auberlen ahs to push for the final 27
minutes. Kevin Estre continues to bide
his time and won’t tangle with another Porsche because he knows where his
paycheck comes from. Pfaff Motorsports
will go for a GTD Pro lineup next year.
We don’t know where Zach Robichon will land. He is too good of a driver to be on the
outside looking in.
He deserves an opportunity.
There will be pro/pro and pro/am lineups in GT3 cars for next year. In GTLM, Nick Tandy leads the motor race by a
second over Antonio Garcia. The #4 could
score a hat trick. Right now, with 25
minutes to go, there could be a hat trick for #4, but it has indeed been the
Corvette juggernaut this whole race. There’s
nothing to choose between the two Corvette’s at this moment and the race is
surely in it’s closing moments. There’s
something detached on the #4 Corvette.
It’s the mount for the pitot tube it appears that has broken.
The pitot tube is not getting the data measurements it was
assigned to. But, Nick Tandy is pressing
hard, still. He won the last two West
Coast races and is trying to make it a hat trick as the #1 Paul Miller Racing
Lamborghini hits the lane for rear tires only and for a splash of gas. Ross Gunn brings the Aston in and Patrick
Long was into the lane as well. Laurens
Vanthoor, Bill Auberlen, and Jack Hawksworth all need to pit yet. Oh dear!
Off the track goes the #27 Alex Riberas driven Heart of Racing
Aston. He caught right up to Daniel
Morad and tried to pass, but no dice there.
We now have the #9 Pfaff Motorsports entry in the lane for
the final time from the lead of the GTD class.
Left side tires and right side tires and loads of fuel for Laurens
Vanthoor. Holy cow. Jack Hawksworth and Lexus goes for two tires
only. 40 seconds for Pfaff, and 38
seconds for both Paul Miller Racing and for Vasser Sullivan. Well, well, well. Auberlen is likely to pit as Vanthoor runs
through The Snake. So, Auberlen is in
the lane and Turner Motorsports have made the correct call, 20 minutes on the
board yet. Fuel only. Race Control will check the pit entry as
Auberlen crossed over a couple of the lines to get in.
Auberlen has moved ahead of Vanthoor and has not given up
the lead of the motor race. All these
cars are fueled to the very end of the motor race. New tires for the Porsche, all four. Rear tires for the Lambo, and no tires at BMW
and Turner Motorsports. So, the plot
thickens as we get closer and closer to the end of the race. Here at VIR there’s just not a lot of grip
and stone cold tires are hard to bring up to temperature. Oh boy.
That was a very dodgy pit entry there, look, by Bill Auberlen as he
swept past Andy Lally coming into the lane itself.
Andy Lally was tardy in making the decision to come in and
didn’t declare his entry. We await to
hear from Gradient Racing about that issue for Mario Farnbacher and that
incident we saw that was a massive impact.
Auberlen leads GTD by seven seconds, maybe eight. Bryan Sellers is making the tire combination
work and the Corvette battle is hot and heavy.
Tandy leads and Garcia is right on his six as #44 retires. No Acura NSX GT3’s will finish today’s
event. Just 17 minutes left on the board
now. It’s going to be determined by
lapped traffic or some bloke putting a wheel in the wrong place.
The gap has now fallen from 1.7 seconds to less than half a
second between the Corvette duo. The two
overall leading Corvette’s have just passed Bryan Sellers and now, #4 is going
to try and pass into Oak Tree, past Laurens Vanthoor in the Porsche. Tandy must use the Porsche’s slipstream and Laurens
Vanthoor is passed. Still, the Porsche’s
in GT Daytona are hooked up. With less
than 15 minutes remaining now, we can see that Vanthoor is closing on
Auberlen. Porsche run only seven seconds
behind BMW in these closing moments.
Pfaff Motorsports have gambled. They’ve rolled the dice. The deal is though, Vanthoor and Auberlen are
going to be scrapping hammer and tongs for this victory. You know both want it. After today there’s just one more race at
Petit Le Mans. That event will have all
five classes in it of course being an endurance event. The points are going to shuffle but will do
so differently than if it ended now and we had to cut the race short. But that won’t happen. The rain forecasters, the meteorologists have
been wrong about possible rain.
But of course, if it does rain before we end here, you may
use the hashtag, #BlameSkip for this one.
That’s just hypothetical. Vanthoor
is moving in for the pass here on Auberlen heading to the back end of the
BMW. He should be on Auberlen’s six
before long. Oh man! We’ve had an incident here! Garcia in the second place #3 Corvette and
Auberlen in the #96 Turner Motorsports Liqui Moly BMW, they’ve run over each
other someplace on the circuit. That’s
at turn one. Auberlen has a punctured
right rear tire! Oh my gosh! Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen will not win
this race today. We could ver well see
Vanthoor and Porsche come back into the fold.
In replay, Garcia came from a long way back, hit the inside curb, and as
he let off the brake and went inside, he clipped the curb on the right side,
went sideways, and he pinballed into the BMW #96! Jeepers creepers! There’s a flat tire and more damage. Good gravy.
It looks like Garcia carried too much speed into the
turn. He was turning and braking at the
same moment and that’s hard to do. The
blokes at Turner Motorsports are beside themselves! They can’t believe it! Race Control has observed the incident. No further action. Turner Motorsports are going to be upset
about this. But blame apportioning here
is just not necessary. I mean,
look. There’s only eight minutes left
before the checkers. Bryan Sellers,
though, he’s closing in on a championship.
He will be champion in GT Daytona in Sprint Cup.
Again, we’ve spoken of their tire strategy. Ross Gunn could in theory still be in
position for the championship as well.
But we’ll see. Bill Auberlen is
back on the road but way down in 12th in class in GTD. Bryan Sellers has now found pace. What’s going to happen? Vanthoor is just easing it home. Uh oh.
The plot thickens, folks. Antonio
Garcia is moving slowly on track. Does
he have a tire issue or mechanical problem on the #3 Corvette? Kevin Estre of course was off the road
twice. So the #79 team, they are going
to be in a pickle. The #9 Pfaff Porsche
is just now crossing the start/finish line.
No cars between the leaders.
Garcia’s lap times are not where they should be and he is
almost 18 seconds behind the sister Corvette.
Patrick Long and Jack Hawksworth are now battling for the final podium
spot in GTD. Ross Gunn is coming in a
hurry as well. This is for the Sprint
Cup championship in GTD. The chips are
down and the money is on the line. Ross
Gunn is still in the fight. This race is
not over as we see the penultimate lap for these cars. Nick Tandy leads. You haven’t missed anything. Kevin Estre is not closing up on Antonio
Garcia though.
White flag next time around.
How will this all end up? We’re
about to find out as #4 is at the top of The Rollercoaster. White flag as Tandy screams down the front
straightaway, the car that Tommy Milner started on pole. This has been a wrestling match. Saturday night’s alright for fighting? Yes.
It has been this afternoon. Sir
Elton John was right. Estre passes the
third place GTD pbattle as Hawksworth moves Patrick Long out of the way! Here comes Ross Gun in the Aston Martin,
right on Long’s tail.
They don’t need to pass the Porsche. But where are Pfaff and PMR? They are at the Oak Tree corner. Through Hog Pen for the last time and Nick
Tandy and Tommy Milner win from pole at the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR! Holy smokes!
Laurens Vanthoor still being chased to the bitter end by Bryan Sellers. Too late.
Pfaff Porsche #9 wins the motor race!
Your winners in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.
Overall/GT Le Mans: #4 Milner/Tandy Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R
GT
Daytona: #9 Vanthoor/Robichon Pfaff
Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R
…And then there was one.
The Petit Le Mans is indeed the season finale for the IMSA WeatherTech
Championship in 2021. We’ll see you
there, at Road Atlanta, in a month’s time.
But never fear. Racing is not
done here at VIR. The WeatherTech GT
event is over. But tomorrow, stay tuned,
because we will be right back here to cover the Michelin Pilot Challenge two-hour
event on Sunday at VIR and trust me, you don’t want to miss it ladies and
gentlemen. For now, our time is up, and
we gotta get out of here. But don’t miss
Michelin Pilot action for GT4 and TCR cars tomorrow. Bye bye for now, everybody, and take
care.
*Note for clarity. This post is done a month behind schedule, actually two months, because of so much racing going on in the months of October and November in the world of sports car racing with the jumbled schedules due to the pandemic. The pandemic itself seems to be waning in places. Makes me wonder if scheduling will become more consistent. You are seeing this post in December because of the confusion and clearly the IMSA season has already passed. You will also see Michelin Pilot from VIR coming up, tomorrow (December 16th). So, a few races being covered at the very end of the year in order to be prepared for 2022 which is fast approaching.
