Welcome back, everybody, to Virginia International Raceway. Glad to have you with us on this Sunday morning. It is time now for the second and final installment of racing this weekend for the IMSA VP Sports Car Challenge. Get ready for another fast-paced 45 minutes of action, coming up, next! A cloudy morning here at Virginia International Raceway. But, the fans are here in force for a full day of racing today. Turns 1, 12, 14, and 17 really are the critical corners on this circuit, especially 14, The Rollercoaster, and 17, Hog Pen, the last corner on the track. Plenty of people camping out this weekend waking up now for more racing. In race one yesterday, we saw a flag-to-flag victory for Bijoy Garg in the LMP3 class and in GSX it was Francis Selldorff earning a hard fought victory.
Hopefully Dan Goldburg might be able to challenge today and give Bijoy Garg a run for his money. Gregory Liefooghe starts from pole today in GSX. Liefooghe is out there to have fun. We saw great racing in GSX yesterday. Brady Behrman ended up with a good finish for van der Steur Racing in the Aston Martin yesterday. Safety car lights off. A 45-minute sprint race. No scheduled pit stops and no driver changes. VIR is the closest track, the home track to JR III's shop. Bijoy Garg and Dan Goldburg start on the front row. Liefooghe and Selldorff on the front row in GSX.
Green flag. Away we go. Ligier's vs. Duqueine's. Ligier's get up to speed quicker. Brian Thienes in second already and Dan Goldburg gets swamped and is fourth now. He is behind Alex Kirby. Start under review as the GSX cars are motoring away. Francis Selldorff is now third being passed for second by Sebastian Carazzo who needs to collect points with one more race weekend at Road Atlanta during the Petit Le Mans weekend. Adam Adelson perhaps did not start this race. That is a shame. Dan Goldburg fending off Courtney Crone.
The Ligier comes alive quicker in LMP3 than the Duqueine does. Goldburg and Courtney Crone have falled behind just a bit. Crone is beginning to make up time. Goldburg is only 40 points behind Bijoy Garg in the overall championship and has a massive lead in the Bronze Cup. He is a homebuilder by trade, from Florida as they fly onto Madison Avenue. Jonathan Woolridge, the Canadian driver, who won is home race earlier in the year at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Patrick Willmot is now catching up to both Sebastian Carazo and Francis Selldorff.
Sebastian Carrazo is a Porsche specialist and has been successful in the past in Porsche Carrera Cup. Selldorff is looking to the inside. Patrick Wilmot does not want to get tangled up in any shemozzle here. Selldorff is driving in a couple different championships. Only three races left this year, actually two, after this morning's race ends. Sebastian Carazzo needs good luck. There is a 120 point swing between these two drivers and Sebastian Carazzo must finish in front. Both Alex Kirby and Brian Thienes are on probation. They will race hard but cannot be too aggressive.
You have to watch yourself so you don't get benched and then you cannot run in any series sanctioned by IMSA if you are naughty and disobey the racing rules. Meanwhile, the battle is on between two Californians. Thienes makes a mistake and Alex Kirby makes the pass. Thienes has some damage on the left rear bodywork. Kirby is setting sail, motoring away as Thienes has Dan Goldburg right on his six. Courtney Crone is hanging right with these two. She is staying in the fight. Thienes now beginning to recover.
In GSX, Greg Liefooghe is eking out a gap as Patrick Willmot is pushing Sebastian Carazzo to the limit through The Rollercoaster. Split Decision Motorsports, a small team, that is punching above their weight showing good results. 1:55.296, fastest lap for Liefooghe. Bijoy Garg sets a new lap record at 1:43.309. The third-place battle in GSX is the hottest one on the track currently. Willmot and Carazzo heading through The Snake, also known as The Climbing Esses. It has been hot and some drivers are not feeling well. It is the combination of the heat and the twisty bits. Maybe there is motion sickness affecting the drivers.
Oh no! Someone is off and upside down! Oh no! It is Todd Coleman in his Aston Martin! The car is on it's roof at turn 14. He lost it on corner entry, at high speed. Let's hope he is OK. That is very scary to be upside down and wondering where you are. Full Course Yellow immediately. Full Course Yellow. 32 minutes left on the board. We don't know if he clouted the tire wall. This is very concerning. You want out, but releasing the seatbelts when you are upside down is very dangerous because you would fall on your head. You are scared to death for sure.
This was a high-speed accident. No wonder they call that section of the course, The Rollercoaster. Speed scrubbed away in the braking zone. It was not a scenario where he had a braking issue and went off at high speed onto the grass. Kudos to Kerrigan Smith and the staff here at Virginia International Raceway improving the safety of this great circuit. The new tire barrier has been put to the ultimate test. Kerrigan Smith, owner of this circuit, is a major advocate for motor racing safety. VIR is a track with consequences. If you go off the road, it is impossible to get back on for the most part. Motor racing is and always will be dangerous, but safety is still paramount.
The marshals and safety workers are taking care of Todd Coleman trying to rescue him safely and the car has to be turned back over on it's wheels. We could very well see some nasty weather this afternoon for the other races scheduled including the WeatherTech Championship GTD Pro/GTD feature later this afternoon. Bijoy Garg leads Alex Kirby in LMP3 and in GSX it is Greg Liefooghe leading Francis Selldorff. The flipped car will roll over onto an airbag to get to the driver, just like the airbags in your passenger car at home.
Todd Coleman is talking to the safety workers and he should be fine. The car is on the airbag now. Todd Coleman has undone his seatbelts and is climbing from the smashed car under his own steam. Om replay, Coleman spins backwards and makes contact with the wall. He is out of the car and will be taken to the medical center to get checked over. He also raced and had trouble in the Michelin Pilot Challenge event we brought to you yesterday. He was side by side with Vincent Barletta when that accident happened.
Coleman had passed by Angus Rogers into The Rollercoaster, in the #5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Porsche Cayman. The incident is under review by the stewards. In the offseason, as we reach the halfway mark., the Armco barrier and the banded tire wall were installed and moved. Last year, cars would have spun through the grass and come back onto the track and cars couldn't have gotten out of the way. Getting T boned would have been much, much worse. Thank God for the safety improvements here at VIR. The banding on the tires is conveyor belt material and the tire wall is able to move and absorb the energy.
There are two layers of tires and that corner is over the crest of a hill. That was a low percentage move by Vin Barletta, unfortunately. We do not know, and it does not matter who was trying to gain an advantage, but you have to make a definitive pass at the end of the backstretch. I don't think Barletta was there. He wasn't. He was frustrated and just pushed Coleman out of the way. He was obviously frustrated. Accidents happen. It was not done on purpose. Believe me. VIR is such a tough circuit to deal with. That corner is much faster than it might initially appear especially on television.
Safety car lights off. So, we are ready to go back to green. What does Alex Kirby have left in the locker to run down Bijoy Garg? Green flag. Alex Kirby has had good runs and troubles just the same. He is looking for better. Well before Hog Pen, Bijoy Garg pushes the bye bye button. He has a cushion over the aforementioned Alex Kirby. Vincent Barletta assigned to incident responsibility for Todd Coleman's crash, and he will serve a stop and hold + five seconds penalty. This indicates that incident was very serious.
Francis Selldorff is still ahead of Sebastian Carazo. These are the GSX championship rivals. Greg Liefooghe leads the motor race in class. Patrick Wilmot still running in fourth in class and looks to the inside of Carazo, but Carazo slams the door and that could very well be a block and Wilmot says, "bye bye, Mister" and then Carazo says, "oh no you don't, sunshine." The stewards will look at all this and poor old Patrick Wilmot is slowing. Race Director Todd Snyder believes time penalties are in order for rough driving, not just drive through penalties.
Beaux Barfield, Race Director for the WeatherTech Championship always says, "did you know he was there? The worst answer is no, but the 'I don't know' excuse is worse. Also, race the way you want to be raced. That is essentially, the Golden Rule. Patrick Wilmot was absolutely fuming! But, it does not matter. I see where he is coming from. But, move on to Road Atlanta for the final races of the season. That's all. In the meantime, Dan Goldburg is having a tough old time now trying to get by Brian Thienes.
In replay, Willmot sails past Carazo, and they ware wheel to wheel in turn four before Willmot gets bumped and he didn't disappear. Race like you want to be raced. But keep it clean and use your head. This is not a fully professional series like Michelin Pilot Challenge or the WeatherTech Championship. These drivers are going to school to move up the racing ladder. Sebastian Carazo is very talented and has to restrain his enthusiasm for wanting to go for it all the time, which is a fine balance. Dan Goldburg chasing Brian Thienes in LMP3. Ligier vs. Duqueine. All LMP3 cars have Nissan V8 power.
The car is on edge, all over the road, the Duqueine. The Ligier chassis looks much more comfortable. The incident has been reviewed. No action taken by the Race Director because as they went into turn four, the left-hander, the #88 was fully committed and Willmot should have expected Carazo to run wide on corner exit. By the same token, Carazo should have known the other car was there. In Michelin Pilot Challenge we had a wonderful race yesterday with all kinds of side-by-side action. Goldburg trying every trick in the book to get past Thienes. #77 tries to pull a handful of car lengths to Goldburg and poor old Dan Goldburg just can't find the answer to Thienes' riddle.
This is the battle for the Bronze Cup as well. They pass by Vincent Barletta through The Rollercoaster. Goldburg can close up in turns three and four. Six and a half minutes of racing remaining. Up to the climbing esses, Brian Thienes seems to have an advantage over Dan Goldburg. Goldburg is right on his tail. Well, well, well. Kirby is five seconds, five and a half seconds to the good over these two and Courtney Crone runs fifth. Bijoy Garg has a two second lead. Gregory Liefooghe has nearly taht amount over Francis Selldorff in GSX as well.
Up through The Snake they go. Liefooghe, Selldorff, Carazo. That is the top three in GSX. Sean Quinlan, in the sister Stephen Cameron BMW has Scott Blind and Frank DePew scrapping and now, the LMP3's are working GSX traffic and Tim Probert slams the door on Dan Goldburg! He got balked and now, Goldburg passes Thienes and then Courtney Crone takes the bait and Brian Thienes slides high and they both spin! Synchronized spinning! Good grief! Thienes is sitting in the barn now, and will resume but his podium chances are dashed.
Propbert did jot even see Goldburg. he sees Thienes but not Goldburg. Tim Probert was holding his line and not driving in a silly manner. I think Dan Goldburg misjudged that deal. Courtney Crone was not even close though. She had a lapse of judgment. They have come together a handful of times. Unnecessary contact and Dan Goldburg will still finish in third and not be able to challenge Alex Kirby in second spot. Race Control lets us know that Courtney Crone has to serve a drive through penalty or receive a time penalty.
Alex Kirby though is right on Bijoy Garg's six! Something happened and Bijoy Garg was far slower than Kirby. 1:49.1 for Garg and 1:45.9 for Kirby. White flag this time around. Garg gets balked by the BMW. Does Kirby have a head of steam? Garg blocks. White flag. Three and a quarter miles to go, one more lap. Can Kirby do the over/under? No. Time is just about to run out. Greg Liefooghe gives the overall leaders the space. Time running out. I think this race will end a lap early. Maybe not. The race, in theory, is over. Not everyone has seen it. It is completed. That was anticlimactic.
Bijoy Garg is the winner overall and in LMP3 and Greg Liefooghe is the GSX class winner.
Overall/LMP3: #3 Bijoy Garg JR III Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GSX: #19 Greg Liefooghe Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82)
It is not unexpected for the officials to see that the race will be too close to call. They saw the clock had run out and threw the checkered flag. Not the way you want to do it but be fair and square. In a sport judged by thousandths of a second, do the best to be fair. So, Bijoy Garg has quite the lead before the final two races of the 2023 season at Road Atlanta, Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, next month. The champagne spray and the celebrations will indeed begin. Bijoy Garg's race craft is amazing.
One weekend of racing in VP Challenge to go, at Road Atlanta. Join us there in mid-October. So long, everybody. Take care.
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