Hello, and welcome, everyone, to the "motorsports resort", Virginia International Raceway. No time for R&R (rest and relaxation), today. It is time for the other R, racing. We pick up the action with the first of two sprint races for the LMP3 and GSX, Grand Sport X, (GT4) cars of the IMSA VP Sports Car Challenge. Again, single driver sprint races lasting, 45 minutes. This is the first of two this weekend and the second is bright and early tomorrow morning. What do you do with 1,300 acres of farmland in the Virginia countryside, you build a racetrack in Alton, Virginia, north of the North Carolina border. 3.27 miles and 17 corners. VP Racing Sports Car Challenge as we join IMSA Radio with Brian Till and Jeremy Shaw.
The championship up for grabs in LMP3 with ten points between Bijoy Garg and Dan Goldburg. Four races, including this one, left in the season. We race here and then at Road Atlanta in mid-October. Bijoy Garg is a fast driver, but his race craft and technique is improving by leaps and bounds, racing both stateside and in Europe. Garg has won four races in 2023 with a slender championship lead over rival Dan Goldburg. Greg Liefooghe is on pole in the GSX class with 23 cars on the grid. Francis Selldorff is second. The cars stream through Hog Pen. Safety car in the lane.
Green flag! We are underway with a split start between the two classes. It is go time and Bijoy Garg is leading while Dan Goldburg has his hands full. That was a slow start. Oops. We have a spin in the back with Todd Coleman in one of the two Archangel Motorsports Aston Martin's. Greg Liefooghe started last but is moving up. Coleman is back on the road. In replay, he was low on the inside, stabbed the throttle and spun all by his lonesome, right behind Vincent Barletta in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4.
No harm done. Garge eking out a gap over Goldburg and the others in LMP3. Traction Control is great but you will spin if the tires are stone cold. Bijoy Garg is able to focus and keep himself in the lead now by 1.3 seconds. Racing is all about focus especially looking where you want to go. Alex Kirby passes Courtney Crone. Car #7 vs. car #99, with Canadian Jonathan Woolridge behind. I think Alex Kirby's probation has faded and he knows to be less aggressive with his driving. However, one other driver, Brian Thienes, he is on probation for today's race and tomorrow's race. Be careful.
That is the blue and red Forte Racing by U.S. Racetronics entry and Alex Kirby is in the Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier. Bijoy Garg extending his lead over Dan Goldburg. Garg and Goldburg have won all the races save for one this year with Jonathan Woolridge spoiling their party. Greg Liefooghe is just using VP Challenge to get more track time but he is the quickest, most experienced, GSX driver. Liefooght was late to the grid. Set your phone alarms before the race, boys and girls. That said, Liefooghe is carving his way back to the front.
There was a revised schedule for this weekend. Meanwhile, Brady Behrman has moved up to second in the #82 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and Francis Selldorff leads the class by three seconds setting fastest lap of the motor race so far as we have just started this sprint. Liefooghe wants by Barletta and gets it done into turn four. He is now trying his hardest to catch the turquoise and yellow Aston Martin #44 through The Snake, Moisey Uretsky at the wheel of it. The new and old BMW M4 GT4's have slightly different Balance of Performance areas. The older car is lighter than the newer one.
Alex Kirby has gone off the road into the grass and there is all grass here. He knew he was having trouble in The Rollercoaster and now he is in pit lane. He is in trouble, off the pace. I don't want part of this shemozzle. He has damage to a dive plane on the left front but no overall bodywork damage. The runoff here at VIR is all grass. So if you go off the road, you are mowing the lawn, believe me. The cars fly onto Madison Avenue, the backstretch. Greg Liefooghe in the #19 orange and blue BMW M4 GT4 for Stephen Cameron Racing, passes the #46 Nolasport Porsche Cayman in the hands of Adam Adelson.
Sebastian Carazo now being harried by Greg Liefooghe as 4.7 seconds is now the gap that Francis Selldorff has the lead in GSX over his competition. Selldorff has no traffic while Liefooghe is slicing through traffic like the proverbial hot knife through butter. He is balking Liefooghe with 33 minutes and change left on the board. Brady Behrman is passed by Greg Liefooghe. He is now second. The deficit between Selldorff and Liefooghe is lengthy. Brady Behrman has done some track days and we have seen him running a handful of SRO races this year. He is at his home track, hailing from Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is a businessman but is focusing on racing and now, Scott Blind is making his move but running off the road as well.
Blind at the wheel of the #45 Archangled Motorsports Aston Martin. Moisey Uretsky has gone off the road at the climbing esses and now has the grille packed full of grass so that motorcar is going to be a steam locomotive if he doesn't clear that grass out of the radiator. Liefooghe still 4.7 seconds down on Francis Selldorff, who is a senior at Boston College studying computer science and finance. Computer science, finance, and racing. Quite the life indeed and a lot of goals for Francis Selldorff indeed. Sebastian Carazzo has gone off the road at turn nine and back on. He is second in the points standings and cannot afford to lose points to Francis Selldorff.
It is hot, the cars are squirming around on a greasy circuit and the radius of these corners is tight. Drivers are aware of that and doing all they can to stay in the championship fight. Carazo to the pit lane to clean out the radiator on his Porsche Cayman. Patrick Willmot too, slides a wee bit in the #88 Split Decision Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 (G82). That is the older generation car, I think. Bijoy Garg on a Saturday afternoon drive. Brian Thienes though has Courtney Crone on his six.
Through turns one and two they go as we watch Vincent Barletta and Adam Adelson scrapping in GSX. BMW vs. Porsche. Turner Motorsports vs. Nolasport, from "The Big Easy", New Orleans, Louisiana. These two blokes are behind Brady Behrman. Courtney Crone being stymied by the GSX traffic, and she is thinking, "OK, please move over." Drivers, teams, engineers, they are training for a future in the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, the big game. It is like minor league baseball and major league baseball. This is a great steppingstone series. LMP3 cars will be in this series even though they will no longer be included in the WeatherTech Championship.
Moisey Uretsky smartly using his turn signals saying, "go on and get by me if you need space", through South Bend and Oak Tree. Liefooghe is stymied in traffic and Selldorff is mmoving ahead but is well aware that Liefooghe is right behind as they fly through Hog Pen starting another lap. 11 laps now in the bag. 23 minutes left on the board. Halfway home. Greg Liefooghe has done only half the races that everyone else has. Four of eight. Make that three of eight. Even with a second place finish, Francis Selldorff will extend his points lead over Sebastian Carazzo.
Team bosses at Turner Motorsports Will Turner and Don Salama are surely telling Selldorff, stay focused and don't throw it away. Selldorff wants a win. None of the top 12 drivers in the championship have won a race yet in GSX. That's bonkers. In a very wee while we will be halfway through this event. Liefooghe has the Turner Motorsport BMW right in sight. Can he catapult by, and launch the rocket? I don't think it is a Hail Mary, send it kind of move. Greg Liefooghe is a veteran amateur driver who is also a businessman, from San Francisco, California.
Courtney Crone is making up the deficit to Brian Thienes. 3.1 seconds is the gap between them, and it has been steady for the last three or so laps. 20 minutes remaining. Crone needs more speed in the car. The ambient temperatures are climbing. It is a hot summer Saturday afternoon here in Virginia. Francis Selldorff is a sponge as he is learning and gaining information about how to be a good race car driver. In the meantime, the battle for third in LMP3 is still boiling between Crone and Thienes. Thienes is three or so seconds quicker than Crone is but Courtney Crone is reeling him in.
Courtney Crone wants it, that is for dead sure. The GSX manufacturer's cup is in stake as it is a battle between the German powerhouses, Porsche and BMW. Liefooghe is not letting Selldorff get away. I am going to keep pushing you, sunbeam. Adrian Kunzle is pointed by the GSX cars I am pretty sure. Kunzle wanted the left side of the road though, not the right side. The two BMW M4's are tied together with a piece of string. Selldorff has been lapping in the 1:56-1:57 range. Vin Barletta is flying having uncorked a 1:56.8. 1:57.57 for Selldorff and a 1:57.58 for Liefooghe! Yikes!
This is a cool scrap to watch, great fun. if Liefooghe holds station he is not letting Francis Selldorff whistle off into the distance. Racing drivers do not gift wrap wins to someone else. That's foolish thinking. You may exchange gifts for Christmas, but not in racing. Vin Barletta, we are going to see him in Michelin Pilot Challenge later this afternoon. We will have that race coming up for you and can't wait to talk about it. Selldorff maintains the lead of this motor race in GSX with the clock continuing to tick. Less than 13 minutes to go. Selldorff knows Liefooghe is back there. It is easy to drop the left side wheels off up the hill between turns 11 and 12. Those are off camber corners.
1:56.6 for Selldorff, half a second within his personal best lap. Downhill into Hog Pen they go. This is the fight up front for GSX. Gregory Liefooghe wants it. At turn two exit, he cannot get by. Liefooghe is showing the rookie how to race. Selldorff is a college student but is also learning tons about how to be a racing driver. Courtney Crone in traffic, caught Brian Thienes and made her move onto the podium. More traffic ahead. Well, well, well. Thienes was held up. Both of these drivers hailing from California. Courtney Crone is a much younger driver. It is not only where you catch traffic but how you catch it.
Don't run up on the back. Slow down and get a run so you don't get stymied and become the cork in the bottle. Selldorff continues leading GSX. The LMP3 battle works their way through Oak Tree and onto Madison Avenue. Greg Liefooghe not letting Francies Selldorff go. He looks to the inside does Liefooghe and Selldorff slams the door in his face. Only seven and a half minutes to go so that yields about four more laps. It is crunch time now as they wind up through The Snake, the climbing esses. This is the best battle on the racetrack. Bijoy Garg is leading the race overall by 23 seconds over Dan Goldburg. Brian Thienes is ahead of Courtney Crone in the LMP3 points by 90 markers.
Vin Barletta is dicing with Moisey Uretsky. But this scrap 9s not for position as e saw Brady Behrman go off the road and into turn 11 Brian Thienes also nearly throws it away. Behrman ran wide at turn ten losing bucketloads of time to Adam Adelson but has a wide gap over Angus Rogers who has passed Scott Blind who hits the pit lane with trouble. Meanwhile the GSX leaders are being reeled in by this third-place scrum in LMP3 between Courtney Crone and Brian Thienes. Liefooghe tries it but no dice. I think he went wide and got off into the gray stuff, out in the fuzz.
Two laps to go. Discretion the better part of valor when Liefooghe went off the road. No harm no foul. Hopefully he does not get grass in the radiator. No worries for Courtney Crone in the Duqueine trying to keep #77 behind her. White flag this time by. Thienes still wants a bite of the cherry. Bijoy Garg is improving his race craft and looking for his fifth win of the year and extending his points lead over Dan Goldburg, half a mnute ahead of Goldburg who has no answer to Garg's riddle. Liefooghe is coming and fast as we close in on the white flag.
Selldorff has traffic ahead, the #27 Porsche Cayman of Sebastian Carazzo. Bijoy Garg wins! He takes his fifth win of the year. It looked easy but the last lap was a bear. He did not lose concentration. Francis Selldorff remains up front in GSX as the third-place battle for LMP3 continues. Briamn Thines wants to get a run. Can he? Courtney Crone takes the final step on the podium. Through The Rollercoaster and Hog Pen for the last time. Selldorff wins his first race in his professional career!
Overall/LMP3: #3 Bijoy Garg Jr III Racing Ligie JS P320 Nissan
GSX: #95 Francis Selldorff Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 (G82)
For Selldorff, he has truly extended his points lead over Sebastian Carrazo who has had a bad race today. Tomorrow morning in race two, it will also be a great one. Join us for the second race tomorrow morning here at VIR. Why did Paul Newman call this place heaven on earth? It is a great place for fans and drivers alike. Thanks for joining us for race one. Tomorrow morning, wake up early for race two. Bye for now.
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