For the seventh straight year, Fanatec GT World Challenge America has come to the Mid-Atlantic and the 17 corners and 3.27 miles of Virginia International Raceway to unleash the GT3 cars on this fabled ribbon of asphalt that has existed since 1957, carved out of the Virginia countryside. The track was nearly lost to history but has been resurrected for the last 20 years. Once more, we have Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish, topside, to take us through the race today and Amanda Busick in the pit lane with reports and observations. This is race seven of the year and we will hit the halfway mark of the championship this weekend.
This is a tough track for handling. Let’s take a look at what it takes to be fast here at VIR with our mate, Calvin Fish. Turns three through five are complex and technical. You are never really in a straight line slowing down. You will be traveling around 115 miles an hour downshifting from fourth to third gear. Don’t over slow the car on corner entry, and try getting to the apex curbs. The curbs have two phases. There are the curb teeth that are made from bare concrete. Then there is the raised, painted FIA curbing that we are all used to at tracks worldwide. They are the molars like the back teeth, and if you put your shoe into the surface, they are deep.
Ride the bumps and your car should be set up with the Pirelli P Zero tires as well, to achieve the desired lap times. Oak Tree corner is one of the most iconic and important corners on the circuit. We lost the fabled oak tree over a decade ago. It was thought a new one would be planted and maybe it has, but it is a mere sapling. Not sure if there will be another oak tree there or not. Exit speed is critical. That will carry you down Madison Avenue and into The Rollercoaster. Turn 11 is uphill and gives the drivers confidence headed for the braking zone. 130 miles an hour in fourth gear, changing down to second gear for the entry.
Have the car lined up correctly with the outside curb. If you go too far over the curb, the left front tire is going to become loaded when you don’t expect it to be. We will see the marbles form on the outside of the circuit, and that of course is the spent rubber off the tires. Those marbles make you lose grip and if you aren’t careful, you can run out wide and end up in the tire barrier on corner exit. Beware the marbles, just like shavings from a pencil eraser. Bathurst has The Dipper, Laguna Seca has The Corkscrew, and VIR has The Rollercoaster. This is a fun corner.
The approach speed down Madison Avenue is 165 miles an hour, absolutely flying aboard one of these GT3 cars. It is like hitting the gates like a slalom skier. Hit the gates as you come through, trimming the curbs, and going downhill at full speed, like a runaway train. Control the weight transfer of the car with the throttle to keep the car pointed in the right direction. Finish the lap through Hog Pen and there you have it. This is one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. In the words of Paul Newman, “if there’s a heaven on earth, it is VIR.” Our championship leaders in the RS1 Porsche of Stevan McAleer and Eric Filgueiras are going for it.
They are going to see stiff competition from the #93 Racer’s Edge Acura NSX GT3 of Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher, and the #53 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R of Seth Lucas and Trenton Estep. Bimmerworld are competing this weekend in their home race here at VIR with the #94 BMW M4 GT3 in the hands of Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull. Four wins on the year means Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson lead the standings in the Pro-Am division. The battle for second place sees an intense fight between the #04 CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 of George Kurtz and Colin Braun, and the #007 TRG Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the hands of Derek DeBoer, the American, and the Frenchman, VHC, Valentin Hasse-Clot.
We are also keeping an eye on the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, the sister car to Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer in #120, of Jan Heylen and Charlie Luck. Anthony Bartone will co-drive with Mercedes GT3 ace Adam Christodoulou of England. The top step of a podium is closer to heaven, to echo Paul Newman’s quote and he is right. We have seen a good chunk of racing this weekend in TC America and GT America and we still have this motor race and Pirelli GT4 America to come today and a second chance to race for all the categories tomorrow.
So, stay with us. Trust me, you will not want to miss a moment of the action here at VIR. It’s going to be turned on and turned up to level ten. TR3 Racing are on the overall pole, the #9 Mercedes-AMG GT3 being shared this weekend by Daniel Morad and Kenton Koch. Ziad Ghandour is on vacation with his family. Hey mate, have a great time. Kenton Koch has worked with TR3 in GT4 and is a natural fit. Koch stuck the car in the pole position, but the team missed the test session and have had just one session of testing.
This will be a test for those boys in addition to a motor race. This is going to be a dynamic race on a difficult circuit with lots of commitment in certain sections of the track. Start your engines, please. OK. The GT3 cars roar to life, and we are set to go racing. George Kurtz and Colin Braun won LMP2 Pro-Am at the 24 Hours of Le Mans the weekend before this race. Kurtz and Braun have found the magic sauce this weekend and are on pole for this race and then race two tomorrow as well. The chase is on to catch Adelson and Skeer in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche.
We will be seeing new faces in new places this weekend. Chandler Hull also raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans the weekend before this race. Scott Smithson is caboose on the grid after needing repairs on his car from a qualifying crash. So, he and Bryan Sellers will be playing catch up. Ken Mooney, President of Rowe Motor Oil North America is a special guest here this weekend and presenting the Rowe Pole Award. Two formation laps planned and one complete. Then we will go green and get underway. TR3 and Bartone Brothers Racing will be ones to watch.
Also, Samantha Tan in the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 has a new co-driver this weekend. Neil Verhagen replacing John Edwards here at VIR. John Edwards has a lot of personal things as his wife Serena is expecting their first child. Good luck to them. Watch too for the third BMW M4 GT3 in this field. That is Vincent Barletta starting the #096 car sharing with Robby Foley. Barletta did a great job in GT America and Foley stuck the car on pole for tomorrow’s second race and they have had GT4 success in another championship.
Watch out for dropping wheels. We had a mid-afternoon thunderstorm that shortened the Free Practice session on Friday. The grass is still soaking wet. The DXDT Mercedes squad are making inroads to find the sweet spot. Safety Car lights off down Madison Avenue, the 4,000-foot backstretch. We are ready for a start. An hour and a half of racing coming your way, right now. Through Hog Pen and now, the cars accelerate. Green flag! Away we go! Kenton Koch into the lead but George Kurtz wants it to the outside, three wide deeper in the pack.
Derek DeBoer side by side with Charlie Luck as Derek DeBoer gets clonked by a Ferrari but he saves it! DeBoer is now pressing hard on Manny Franco! This is good stuff right from the start! Squiggle through that sector but watch out for the grass. Through The Snake and into the Esses, South Bend, and into Oak Tree. They fly back down Madison Avenue. 130 feet of elevation change around this circuit, down, and then up again into The Rollercoaster. Eric Filgueiras had a bear of a qualifying run but is working his way through.
Manny Franco trying to thread the eye of the needle and tapped Derek DeBoer. One lap complete as Kenton Koch leads but George Kurtz is right on his six. Seth Lucas flat out through the climbing esses, pushing the Pirelli P Zero’s into the tarmac and Vin Barletta has spun! Deary me! This will be the polesitter for race two tomorrow. He got tagged in turns three, four, or five. Kenton Koch finding a rhythm and extending his lead. Koch has wide experience aboard a Mercedes AMG GT3 but not on Pirelli tires. In different championships he has run the car on other tire brands.
George Kurtz wriggles and nearly gets shot off the road through Hog Pen! Seth Lucas in the Porsche will have a head of steam! Kenton Koch has made good his escape to the tune of a second and a half. Kurtz is a Bronze graded driver on the FIA rankings but is getting in amongst the Pro GT3 entries putting the cat among the pigeons. Now Kurtz has the driver confidence to get back with the program and stay in the fight. Manny Franco, in the meantime, has made up four places since the green flag flew. Franco and Chandler Hull had a massive accident last time out at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and did not score points in that race.
Franco has no expectations yet and is giving himself three years. This is year two. His co-driver/teammate is Alessandro Balzan, the experienced Italian who developed this new Ferrari 296 GT3 with Conquest Racing and team boss and former driver, Eric Bachelart. Kurtz, Lucas, and Chandler Hull, all three of them right together. Adelson is knocking on the door and he is going after George Kurtz wanting to pass that #04 CrowdStrike Mercedes. Second overall and leader in Pro-Am. #120 leads #04 by 36 points.
Adam Adelson had a mechanical issue in this car in GT America earlier today. They turned the car around in an hour and a half, by Wright Motorsports. Daniel Morad had real pace in qualifying and Kenton Koch must create a buffer if they want to be competitive. Trouble now in the pit lane for the #16 ACI Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, Pedro Torres, the Swiss licensed driver, at the wheel of it. So, the team based out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is trying to solve a riddle with their race car. Torres sharing the car with veteran driver Spencer Pumpelly. It could be a suspension issue and the ACI team have been chasing a strange vibration in that car all weekend.
Chandler Hull now right on Seth Lucas’ six and going for the pass. Hull successfully makes the pass in turn three. OK. Hull needs no second invitation, and he moves to second in Pro. The BMW is a strong car at VIR this weekend. At ACI, they changed the power steering unit and have not had good balance with their Pirelli tires either. They are not quick. A spin in turn 11 for Charlie Luck! Oh dear! The #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche is in the fence! OK. Luck did not quite hit the tire bundle. Jan Heylen, teammate, and son-in-law cannot believe it. The sideview mirror is askew but nothing else.
Pedro Torres left the pit lane in front of overall leader Kenton Koch. A Pro vs. Pro-Am battle, look, as Eric Filgueiras wants by Derek DeBoer. Filgueiras trying to set upo an inside pass into turn four and makes it stick. A clean, clinical, efficient move. A couple of drivers who raced Pirelli GT4 America last year and are now in the big leagues in GT3. We saw Filgueiras and McAleer dominate some of the opening races this year but as of late, the duo has fallen slightly out of form and are clawing their way back into the picture this afternoon.
At ACI Motorsports, we’ll see. Pedro Torres had an ABS failure and they replaced a right front tire believing another one was in trouble. The second half, the lockup in the braking zone for turn one right out onto the grass, onto the lawn. Some hip and shoulder, some big contact between Jeff Burton and Derek DeBoer through turn one! Both continue but that spot of aggro is going to cost each driver multiple positions on the road. Burton tags DeBoer in the rear diffuser of the Aston Martin. Goodness gracious.
Samantha Tan, Justin Wetherill, and Ashton Harrison are all jolly lucky to clear that mess in their own battle. BMW vs. Ferrari vs. Acura. Koch leads overall by 5.4 seconds and then you have the Kurtz vs. Hull still simmering. Morad and company might fall off pace in the second half of the motor race. This is major for Hull to be able to set co-driver Bill Auberlen up to go for a second win this season. Kurtz challenging Hull who goes to the outside and he couldn’t get traction on the front as Kurtz covers through Left Hook and into The Snake and the uphill Climbing Esses.
This is a game of chess. Crest the hill and back up the hill into turn 11. Don’t go too far off the racing line through Oak Tree and then back down Madison Avenue again. The BMW has the power but so does the Mercedes, look. Hull has to be right on Kurtz’s six off of Oak Tree. Amazing that Kurtz has to fight so hard because they are in different classes even though all these cars are GT3 spec. This is a buffer between Kurtz and Adelson. Overall wins are what everyone is after, class wins notwithstanding, at least not yet.
Race two at Sonoma and race two at NOLA Motorsports Park in New Orleans earlier in the year, both overall wins for Kurtz and Braun. Big load on the right front tire through turn ten. Fully loaded, the tires squeal for mercy. Manny Franco closing in on Adam Adelson. He had a big crash at VIR last year. He qualified and started in tenth place and is beginning to put good races together. VIR is a high commitment track. Nerves are not ideal around a track like VIR. Now then, Hull tries Kurtz and Kurtz defends. Chandler Hull, no dice. Kurtz slams the door in Hull’s face. The BMW has more top end punch. Different types of cars and designs.
They make power and speed in different ways, and the rear engine Porsche and mid-engine Ferrari. V8 power in the Mercedes, naturally aspirated. A classic naturally aspirated flat six in the Porsche. The BMW has a twin turbocharged straight six and the Ferrari also makes use of a mid-mounted turbo V6 motor. Lucas closed in a real big hurry. Hull and Lucas both going for it. Torres lets Kurtz and Hull through, and Seth Lucas was held up a tad. Great section of the course just before Hog Pen corner. Tire degradation will play a part in how much traction you have.
Not much traction in the red Virginia clay as they fly down through The Snake. Breathe the throttle through turns nine and ten and then fly back down Madison Avenue. This is onboard with Lucas. It is a hot day in southern Virginia today. Cooler temperatures than what we saw midweek. We are near Danville, Virginia, close to South Boston and the short track, South Boston Speedway, right on the Virginia and North Carolina border.
New fastest lap of the race so far to Kenton Koch at 1:46.429, ten and a half seconds to the good over George Kurtz. 20 minutes in and Koch is within a tenth of his ultimate pace. Kurtz is flying and Chandler Hull just cannot find the answer to Kurtz’s riddle no matter how hard he tries. He is not close enough to use the power from the BMW over the Mercedes and the Benz has midrange power. Kurtz has class victories at many of the big endurance races including the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 24 Hours of Le Mans which he won the weekend before this event, and at the 24 Hours of Spa.
Hull makes his move past George Kurtz! Well, well, well. Kurtz lets him go and may have had a crew chief on the phone to him saying, “let him go and don’t do anything silly. Don’t force it with a car from a different class.” Now that Hull is clear, what is his pace relative to Kenton Koch? Koch through turn one and Chandler Hull runs second, closing the gap. Koch is caught in traffic and wasting time. Chandler Hull needs to minimize the gap. The second half of this race is going to see a battle royal between Daniel Morad and Bill Auberlen.
Auberlen has a CV longer than a Cheesecake Factory menu peppered with race wins and titles, and it is like waving red meat at a rabid dog. Seth Lucas closes hand over fist on George Kurtz and we can’t forget that Adam Adelson is lurking and uncorking consistent lap times. Elliott Skeer will be in a good position after the pit stop exchange. MDK Motorsports are running well today so far even with frustrations about their sweet spot and not finding it. Adam Adelson to the lane earlier than expected. Keep in mind this same car had mechanical woes in the GT America race earlier today.
It looks like he has a flat left rear tire. So, this scuppers a podium run for Adelson and Skeer in VIR race one. Ugh. CrowdStrike Racing will be jumping up and down and Samantha Tan is promoted to second and Justin Wetherill to third place. Wright Motorsports need a yellow to get back in the game. They still need to do the mandatory stop within the window opening in 13 minutes time. Kenton Koch is still leading. Koch runs a 1:47.9 and Hull a 1:46.6! Holy cow! Hull is coming in a hurry. Koch leads in his SRO America GT3 debut and Hull is flying uncorking a 1:46.5!
TR3 are struggling with setups. Scott Smithson in the #08 Mercedes for DXDT Racing is the meat in the sandwich but languishing in 16th place. Smithson sharing with Bryan Sellers. Koch finds pace and is matching Chandler Hull as Seth Lucas is chasing down George Kurtz for third spot. Seth Lucas is pushing, muscling the Porsche around VIR. Kurtz is keeping the young man at bay. This is not a battle for class position. Samantha Tan is second in Pro-Am, 18 seconds in-arrears and three seconds ahead of the Ferrari of Triarsi Competizione, with Justin Wetherill at the controls. Jeff Burton is next in the #91 DXDT Mercedes AMG GT3. Both incidents for Burton are being reviewed and need to be fully assessed after the race.
Burton is keeping pace with Wetherill. His co-driver Ryan Dalziel, the veteran Scotsman, will be one to watch in the second half of the race today. Whoa! We have another spin! Burton is off the road and in the grass! Too much curb. Harrison and DeBoer pass. Watch out for the other cars. He has it pointed back in the right direction. He is still learning the Mercedes after driving Lamborghini’s for several years in the sister DXDT car to Scott Smithson. Corey Lewis when he begins his stint will have to make up oodles of time. Trying to chase the car makes things worse and it is harder to get a good result.
We can see Charlie Luck riding a bucking bronco through the Hog Pen as well! That’s close! Will he or won’t he hit the signage? He took out one of the VP Racing Fuels signs, clobbering it. The signs look innocuous enough but if they are propped up with sandbags, they can do damage to the front end of the car and that is critical for the Porsche because the radiators are in the front. He drops a lap down but is a jolly lucky chap to escape that shemozzle without damage. Koch has solidified his lap times leading the motor race but now, Vincent Barletta is off the road again in the #096 BMW M4 GT3 for Turner Motorsports.
That too happened right in front of Kenton Koch, eyes like saucers as he clears the dust cloud! He is no doubt thinking, what do I have to do to have a clean lap around this place?! It may be that Chandler Hull has burned off his Pirelli tires significantly. Chandler Hull should be in position to take the fight to Kenton Koch and then when the professional drivers take over, and we see Bill Auberlen harrying Daniel Morad. A shame for Vincent Barletta to have that spin because his lap times have been very consistent. Barletta is really doing all he can to step it up. I think he has more experience in GT4 compared to GT3.
Chandler Hull for Bimmerworld is still young. He has raced a lot of times. He could challenge as we get closer to the pit window and now we are looking at the #93 Racer’s Edge Acura that won at Circuit of the Americas. Ashton Harrison did not have the qualifying run she wanted, tearing up the right front corner. Mario Farnbacher had a better result in qualifying. They are currently 17 points down on the #28 RennSport1 Porsche of Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer. Filgueiras is a place ahead of them in class and sixth overall on the road. Harrison is ninth.
That said, Filgueiras has caught the Ferrari #21 in the hands of Manny Franco for Conquest Racing. Daniel Morad getting suited and booted to take over the #9 TR3 Mercedes as we watch Franco and Filgueiras fighting for fifth. The pit window is getting closer. The minimum pit lane delta today at VIR is 65 seconds. The leader does not get first dibs. It is whoever has the advantage to get into the lane. #28 and those boys are in damage limitation mode as Chandler Hull had a slip up and has lost time to Koch. Filgueiras tries a late lunge on Franco! It looks like Franco saw him and these two, I think, are aware of discretion being the better part of valor.
Smart racing by Franco. Quality racing from two up and comers. Manny Franco in his second year racing and in his first full season in GT3 and for Eric Filgueiras, it is his first chance in a GT3 car after winning a GT4 title last year. The Porsche seemingly has the legs on the Ferrari as they zoom down Madison Avenue again. Filgueiras keeps it wide and gets into the power approaching The Rollercoaster and then through Hog Pen. Too early to pit. Next time by is the first crack for the leaders to pit. Filgueiras on the outside tries to get Manny Franco to commit. He cannot cut and paste the move from early. The #93 Acura is in the lane early doors.
Ashton Harrison out, Mario Farnbacher in. Jeff Burton who spun moments ago is in the lane handing the #91 Mercedes AMG GT3 to Corey Lewis. Pedro Torres brings in the #16 ACI Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R and hands off to Spencer Pumpelly. What do you do at TR3 with Kenton Koch? They dive for the lane from the overall lead. George Kurtz in the lane to hand off to Colin Braun and Seth Lucas also pits to hand off to Trenton Estep in the #53 MDK Motorsports Porsche. Seth Lucas has been very impressive. But Kenton Koch perhaps stopped in the wrong pit box.
Daniel Morad is now in the #9 TR3 Mercedes. Kenton Koch is also running in his full-time deal with Random Vandals Racing in the Pirelli GT4 America championship so he could have been confused thinking of a different pit box all together. A quick stop from the TR3 boys but how much time was lost? Auberlen is side by side and here comes Jan Heylen too! Heylen wants to get the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche back on the lead lap. Morad should be in the lead in the #9 TR3 Racing Mercedes and in second, Bill Auberlen in the #94 Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT3.
Colin Braun is now being hurried by Trenton Estep with his elbows out! The tires are out of the ovens, not stone cold, but they are edgy and don’t have as much traction just yet. Morad is off the road on the entry to Madison Avenue! He’s way off into the weeds and Auberlen is back through! Excuse me. That is a tricky entry to Oak Tree corner. He got in wide and couldn’t turn. He’s a lucky, lucky boy that he didn’t get into the fence! Morad was pushing and overcooked it! Everyone has made their pit stops. So, we are about at the halfway mark and the top places are Auberlen followed by Braun and then Morad.
Excuse me. Morad is ahead of Braun. Then comes Trenton Estep and Alessandro Balzan who is now driving the #21 Conquest Racing Ferrari. Kenton Koch got confused by a different orange pit board. That was a total mistake. He is understandably disappointed. The balance has shifted on the car in one lap. We are all human, race car drivers included. We all make mistakes. Koch only did six laps. Auberlen rumbles over the curb and is off in the grass approaching the climbing esses! Oh dear! Morad takes the lead! VIR giveth. VIR taketh away.
Colin Braun is screaming up behind Auberlen. You must be totally committed at this circuit. Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable! You must live on the edge to extract everything at VIR ans if you step over the edge this place will punish you massively! Auberlen clonked the curb and went off in the dirt in an off-camber turn. Colin Braun leading Pro-Am. With the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche having their troubles, it is manna from heaven for the #04 team. Quick lap times on full tanks unfolding everywhere. 1:45.9 for Braun, 1:45.6 for Neil Verhagen in the #38 Samantha Tan Racing BMW he shares with Samantha Tan.
Adam Christodoulou, Robby Foley, Valentin Hasse-Clot, all of them are pushing hard. Neil Verhagen a young American driver who has done most of his racing in Europe. This is an audition as he is a BMW Junior driver. He is a former class winner, Verhagen, for BMW, at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. Bartone Brothers Racing, we have seen their Mercedes AMG GT3 all year but they have been racing for the most part as an Am class entry with Anthony Bartone and Andy Pilgrim. Now, Adam Christodulou, the experienced British GT3 racer for Mercedes is giving it all he’s got and just uncorked the CrowdStrike fastest lap of the motor race at 1:45.607.
Christodoulou might drive in this car for the rest of the season. He knows the racetrack having run here at VIR in Star Mazda open wheel cars in 2009 and ran a sports car race here in 2010 as well. Christodoulou is going to bring a bunch to the table. He is a Nurburgring specialist for Mercedes and has been in recent years. He is officially termed an expert driver for Mercedes-AMG. Daniel Morad holds the same status. Morad and Christodoulou both do a lot of simulator racing and simulator work for the testing.
George Kurtz, who just won in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, was back at the office on Monday right after that. He is a businessman as well as an amateur racing driver of course. Bill Auberlen is now back on the pace and Colin Braun is next in the serial. George Kurtz did even more racing after this with six hours at Watkins Glen Raceway in New York and the 24 Hours of Spa. We’ve talked about both of those races already. Meanwhile, we see Colin Braun leading Pro-Am followed by Trenton Estep and Alessandro Balzan. The top four are all in the 1:45-1:46 range.
Ryan Dalziel is showing the Ferrari has pace, driving the #33 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari. Trenton Estep, originally from Texas, now lives in Columbus, Ohio, where MDK Motorsports is based. Estep the more seasoned driver of the two, but both are young yet. Estep is a former single make Porsche champion, five years ago in 2018. Estep and Lucas are both keeping the car on the island as Robby Foley is clawing his way back now at the wheel of the #096 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 and Barletta and Foley will start on pole for race two, tomorrow.
Alessandro Balzan is running very well right now as well. The biggest development is in terms of setup, it is a copy and paste between he and Manny Franco and you need two drivers who like the same things. That means cockpit ergonomics but more importantly, car balance. This is a Pro class car but Manny Franco is only in his first full season of GT3 and is still wet behind the ears with the racing game. You are allowed a Pro driver on any grading, for the Pro class and the second driver must be Silver rated while Pro-Am required a Bronze rated driver based on the FIA driver rating system signified with precious metals. Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze.
Neil Verhagen is second in Pro-Am and sixth overall and Bill Auberlen is 1.4 seconds down on Daniel Morad. Of course, Auberlen is in a similar BMW M4 GT3. The lap times have dropped before Kenton Koch made some adjustments or adapted to the car. It was more than just the tire degradation plummeting off a cliff. Auberlen is reeling in Morad and a twitch for Morad! Dirt tracking through Hog Pen! Egad! A little oversteer there through Hog Pen. Yikes! That was scary business. This is where the tires are starting to turn to jelly and the handling is fading.
It is like a light switch where the car starts wriggling around. Auberlen will have seen that, and believe you me, he’s the shark chasing the minnow here. Cue the “Jaws” music. Morad looks vulnerable and could be in a spot of bother before the end of the stint. Professional drivers put those mistakes out of their mind. Morad was weaving around on Madison Avenue trying to clean the tires. I wonder if he has clag on his tires. Is the car not weighted properly? Auberlen is moving in, and fast. Half an hour to go. The BMW has the legs on the Mercedes moving into the braking zone.
More traffic ahead, the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Jan Heylen, who has just unlapped himself. Colin Braun holding steady in third, leading in Pro-Am as poor old Neil Verhagen is languishing in sixth place. Morad is sliding the car and has lost rear bite. He is in damage control mode currently. He can use his brake bias and then, work with the sway bars to stiffen up the front for better weight transfer to the rear axle. There are traction control settings, but they are not linear, and they sap power. Traction Control is more of a hindrance than a help. From the top of the Rollercoaster, they plunge downhill to Hog Pen.
In 2017, Daniel Morad ran a Mercedes here and held off Jeroen Bleekemolen and at the time he was the man. He is still a top shelf driver. Daniel Morad won that race here at VIR in 2017. He came out of the single-seater ranks, Formula 2000, Formula BMW USA and more. Mario Farnbacher had just set his fastest race lap and now has a flat left rear tire! Such a disaster this weekend so far for the Racer’s Edge Acura team! Mario did run a quick qualifying lap for race two and that tire delaminated immediately right at pit in, thank goodness! He backed out of it and trundled to the pit lane. Well, well, well. The curbs here get rutted, and you can cut the inside sidewall of the tire, particularly through turn five and hitting the inside shoulder.
If you fill in the berm, a new rut will be carved out of it. Colin Braun, meanwhile, is really running consistently just as George Kurtz did earlier. Colin Braun has had an incredible racing career, bursting onto the sports car scene as a young man and ran in NASCAR for a good while, and in 2008 he was part of the NASCAR development program for Ford and Roush Racing. He looked to be on a path to stock car racing. That opportunity dried up, and so, he returned to sports cars and has had tremendous success in GT3 and in prototypes, now having won both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Kurtz and Braun have a lot of fun together as teammates. Ryan Dalziel passes Stevan McAleer for seventh place in the overall in a battle of the Scotsmen. Filgueiras put the car in neutral coming down to the pit lane. The #93 Acura did pit, and the car was coughing and spluttering on the way in. We could see the #53 MDK Motorsports Porsche team making inroads with Lucas and Estep. A battle ensuing for ninth in the overall between Valentin Hasse-Clot (VHC) in the Aston Martin, and Adam Christodoulou in the Mercedes. There will be a post-race time penalty for a short pit stop for the #91 DXDT Mercedes of Corey Lewis and Jeff Burton.
This car has two more incidents involving it under review. So, they do have the proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over them from the stewards. They were about 8/10ths of a second shy on their pit stop but they have other penalties looming as well. It is an episode of “Columbo”. Daniel Morad has stemmed the tide a wee bit. Morad drops a couple of wheels, but somehow or other, he is finding pace enough to keep Auberlen at bay. Morad a tad wide on corner entry and in the gray stuff, the tire clag. Such a tricky corner before heading onto Madison Avenue.
Auberlen cannot challenge Morad, the Canadian. Will Braun fight Auberlen? He won’t give it up and will get feisty because he does not want to be gapped by someone else. Racers are racers and the only object of another car being on the road is for it to pass. The overall win is something wanted, big time. Derek DeBoer gets roughed up by Manny Franco and by Jeff Burton. Two incidents for #91 that have not be adjudicated yet. Adam Christodoulou is doing well alongside Anthony Bartone. Bartone did not want to follow in his dad’s footsteps going into drag racing.
Andy Pilgrim has been giving Anthony Bartone all the tools to focus and to immerse yourself in the game. Get your fitness, your sleep cycles, your diet, and your connections right. There are high stakes and Andy Pilgrim knows he does not have the pace to keep driving but is still engaged. Andy Pilgrim is in his mid-60s, and Bill Auberlen is now in his mid-50s. Let Anthony Bartone learn from his teammate. Morad at the front of the train, with Bill Auberlen the meat in the sandwich and behind is the Pro-Am class leader, Colin Braun.
Morad has been having to wrestle that car. Auberlen is hovering over him. About 15 minutes of racing remaining in the first race. Elliott Skeer in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche, the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche and the #04 Crowdstrike car going for the championship lead. The averages mean even more than winning. Neil Verhagen has gone around Alessandro Balzan for a position in the overall running order but not in class. Verhagen in fifth in the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3. He has gone by Balzan a true veteran of GT3 racing.
Driver coach and mentor for Samantha Tan, Niclas Jonsson, says Verhagen has fit in well. John Edwards, I don’t believe is racing any longer with ST Racing. Wright Motorsports have just had a bear of a weekend so far. They have had a charmed existence in GT3, but they are going to lose a bunch of points headed into race two tomorrow. Auberlen went wide and nearly spun off a lap ago. The handling on these GT3 cars is starting to go away with 13 minutes to go. Hats off to Pirelli for optimizing consistency in their tires. Touch wood, we have had a clean race.
Auberlen’s pace plateaued a bit allowing Morad to eke out a gap. TR3 will likely get their best result of the year and they’ve been languishing between fifth and eighth since Sonoma back in April. TR3 are beating rival Mercedes teams with lengthy pedigrees such as Riley and DXDT. TR3 have run Ferrari’s for a while and have been swapping brands and cars for the last few years. The Racer’s Edge Acura is back on track but after the tire dramas they are down the order.
Ten minutes of racing remaining. Verhagen is running the fastest laps of the race right now and has motored away from Balzan by three seconds. ST Racing are not just competing here stateside. They also have (as has been well documented) a GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup program with a Ferrari. Samantha Tan was on the podium at Paul Ricard. Another cut down left rear tire on the Racer’s Edge Acura. Maybe they have geometry woes, or maybe they are hitting curbs.
Not sure Auberlen has enough left in the locker to give chase to Morad. Watch out for Robby Foley tomorrow. He just uncorked a 1:46.1 and will be on pole tomorrow alongside co-driver Vincent Barletta. Robby Foley co-drove with Michael Dinan in SprintX GT4 competition back in 2020. Kenton Koch, with his experience, is a yardstick for Morad but then he can show too that he is a world-class driver. Daniel Morad was called up last minute last fall for the Indianapolis 8 Hours and had a starring role aboard the car that went on to win. That has helped him get rides at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and IMSA races as well as here in SRO America with TR3.
The global motorsports stage, there is a huge rise in prototypes. Drivers from GT3 are being promoted to prototypes and we saw that at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Porsche and Ferrari, and the same is true in the prototype ranks in IMSA, in the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Under five minutes to go, Daniel Morad is still lapping within five seconds of his personal best. Auberlen is closing but Morad eases away. Colin Braun, the Pro-Am leader, the snake in the grass.
Keep hitting your marks. Not enough time to search and scratch. Valentin Haase-Clot and Adam Christodoulou are still fighting for the final spot on the Pro-Am podium. We will have race two here at VIR tomorrow. Running different lines through the horseshoe. Open your hands as you apply the power through the turn. The Mercedes and the BMW across the length of a lap are evenly matched. The Mercedes might not have the ultimate setup underneath the car. That said, the straightaway speed is evenly matched, and the BMW has a wee bit more top end. The Mercedes is good under braking and is compliant over the curbs and the bumps.
The Mercedes is an Evo car, but it has been a while since an evolution took place. The car is one of the older of the newer generation GT3 cars while the BMW M4 GT3 is now only in it’s second full year of competition. Balance of Performance seems to be equating the two German cars. The lap times are 49 thousandths of a second apart. 1:46.6 to 1:46.7. High quality driving within a tenth of each other. Join us for race two tomorrow with the professional drivers all starting and then the less experienced drivers will seal the deal tomorrow as the #45 Porsche is off the pace.
The Wright Motorsports team have had a fraught weekend so far and the #45 Porsche might have trouble with the tire. Checkered flag! TR3 Racing and drivers Daniel Morad and Kenton Koch win! Second place goes to the #94 Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT3 of Chandler Hull and Bill Auberlen. Third place, and the winner in the Pro-Am class goes to Colin Braun and George Kurtz. The battle rages on for second, for third and fourth in Pro-Am. Fourth and fifth excuse me. Valentin Hasse-Clot beats Adam Christodoulou in his GT World Challenge America debut.
What a drive to fifth overall for Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen! TR3 are brand new to Mercedes and going toe to toe with proven Mercedes teams like Riley and DXDT. Elliott Skeer lays down his personal best on the last lap of race one. Cue the dance music as we check the results.
Overall/Pro: #9 Koch/Morad TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
Pro-Am: #04 Kurtz/Braun Crowdstrike Racing with Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo
Remember the #096 BMW M4 GT3 for Turner Motorsport with Robby Foley and Vin Barletta. They are on the overall pole for race two tomorrow. ST Racing score their first podium. Balzan and Franco ran very well too for Conquest. Balzan is a racer, that is for dead sure, and so is Manny Franco. Provisional race results are complete, and we begin the celebrations. Wonderful racing today and we will be back tomorrow for more, for race two. Thanks for being with us. Join us tomorrow for race two. So long for now, everybody. Bye bye.
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