It is crunch time in the 2024 IMSA VP Racing Fuels Sports Car Challenge. Two races this weekend at the gorgeous Virginia International Raceway, a place the late, great actor and racing driver Paul Newman called "heaven on earth", and two more to close out the season during the Petit Le Mans weekend at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, the second weekend in October. The LMP3 cars are the only prototype race cars on the premises at VIR this weekend, with all the rest being Grand Touring cars. We have a handful of new entries to highlight for this weekend's races. Forte Racing has entered the #86 Ligier JS P320 Nissan in LMP3 for Jon Hirshberg out of Manhattan Beach, California. In GSX, there are no new entries. Every one of the GT4 cars in that category is the same, all season long entrants who have been a part of the previous races in the championship.
You can vacation at all kinds of resorts, but Virginia International Raceway is a motorsports resort, and home to sports car teams and fans. Rounds nine and ten of the season are ready to launch, this morning on Saturday, and tomorrow morning on Sunday. 18 cars will start this first race. Eight LMP3 cars and ten GSX cars. 1957 is when this wonderfulc circuit opened. What a place as we welcome Brian Till and Jeremy Shaw to the broadcast booth.
Connie Nieholm, Kerrigan Smith, and the track staff have done a wonderful job keeping this awesome palace of speed alive. On the LMP3 pole, it is the #87 of Jagger Jones. The GSX polesitter is Luca Mars in car #59, the KOHR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4, the points leader over Jesse Lazare in the #21 MIA McLaren Artura GT4. They will not start today's race. Both cars were crashed, in VP Challenge and Michelin Pilot Challenge, a sensor or suspension issue for the cars and both cars crashed. Jesse Lazare will not be taking part in the VP Challenge races today and tomorrow. So, MIA will prioritize Michelin Pilot Challenge instead.
Luca Mars is looking good to be GSX champion. Of the eight LMP3's there are seven Ligier's and the sole Duqueine of Jagger Jones for FastMD Racing with Remstar. Jon Hirshberg is making his first prototype start after racing Lamborghini Super Trofeo for a while. OK. It is time for a start. Jagger Jones has won five races. He needs to win. Green flag. We're off and racing. Jones steps on it and we're off. Jones has the lead and now, Steven Aghakhani is running second and the LMP3 cars have a clean start. In GSX it is the Ford Mustang GT4 of Luca Mars leading the way.
A battle is on now between Alex Kirby in car #7 and Brian Thienes in car #77. Mark Brummond has moved to second in the #25 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4. Good to see a clean start and nothing has gone pear shaped on this lovely, sunny, warm Virginia day. Through Hog Pen they come, and Jagger Jones has been incredibly impressive this year after missing the Daytona doubleheader. At CTMP in Canada last time, Jagger Jones was disqualified for wheel camber issues. Other than that, he has had a perfect season and he is racing in Mazda MX5 Cup this weekend too. The LMP3 car has so much power and so much downforce. The Mazda is a lighter, less powerful, momentum-based car.
OK. Thienes is second in the championship chase and Alex Kirby is chasing him. He is leading the LMP3 Bronze Cup. Miguel Villagomez did not race in Canada last time. Mark Brummond has his hands full through The Rollercaster being chased by Moisey Uretsky and Brady Behrman. BMW M4 GT4, Porsche Cayman, and Aston Martin Vantage. Three very closely matched GT4 cars. Luca Mars leads the title chase and Jesse Lazare because of his issues, he will plummet. Starting well back, Patrick Wilmot in the #88 Split Decision Motorsports BMW M4 GT4. He is languishing down the order currently.
Patrick Wilmot will be pushing hard. That is for sure. He has passed the #5 Porsche Cayman of KMW with TMR and Angus Rogers. Meanwhile, Alex Kirby has picked up a WeatherTech billboard or two. He must stop the car and back up, going uphill and rolling backwards to try and remove the signboard. The WeatherTech advertising banner. It will not do damage to the car but it is obstructive to his vision and to the V8 engine which could overheat. The splitter and the dive plane are like a razorblade or a knife. They are incredibly sharp.
Ryan Phinny in the Ave Motorsports with Rick Ware Racing #51 Ligier JS P320 Nissan is right on Brian Thienes' six right now. Phinny making a move and now Thienes was tucked up like a kipper and he went off the road! A drive through penalty for Angus Rogers and now we have a Full Course Yellow to rescue car #7. I don't think, as we look at the replay of the previous incident, that Brian Thienes saw Ryan Phinny. It was a bold move. It's the Brian and Ryan Show. Brian Thienes a veteran racing driver. Phinny was right in the turn. Now the marshals remove the signange and Alex Kirby can get back on his way.
Kirby also squishes a cone. Now he is back on track. In this replay, we can see that Kirby went way off the road and did collect the blasted billboard with the splitter slicing through the corrugated plastic the sign is made of. Alright. Everyone motoring slowly behind the safety car. Ryan Phinny has his racing future set up and has ideas and programs that he cannot yet divulge to those of us who are interested, those of us who write and talk about sports car racing every day of the week. The Phinny shemozzle is under review by the stewards. I don't want to apportion blame to him. He is OK. Thiennes left too much of a gap.
So, Jagger Jones is opening a gap on Steven Aghakhani. Jagger Jones at the top of the shop, but he was better on cold tires on the original start. On hot tires, Aghakhani has the pace uncorking faster lap times with half an hour to go. Luca Mars making himself scarce at the top of the shop in GSX. He hasn't got Jesse Lazare to worry about and Josh Green in the Thaze Competition Mercedes-AMG GT4, they are not here, the #78 car. Mark Brummond is running incredibly well and he does not even have a top five in 2024 yet. He is having a wonderful run so far and now, we see that Moisey Uretsky and Brady Behrman both want a bite of the cherry.
Brummond didn't race north of the border in Canada at Mosport Park. Brummond, from Charlotte, North Carolina, he is at his home circuit here at VIR. Brady Behrman in his home race, too. He is from Virginia Beach, Virginia, in the #82 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4. Frank DePew in the #72 Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin Vantage is motoring as well. Now, Uretsky is reeling Brummond in hand over fist. This is a large crocodile of cars. Patrick Wilmot in the Genie garage doors sponsored BMW M4 GT4 is coming in a rush, too.
The Full Course Yellow helped him. In LMP3, Steven Aghakhani is trying to battle with Jagger Jones. He is a second and a half behind. Winning races is great. Winning championships is better. That is the focus because he controls the championship over Jagger Jones. Jones has been extremely successful, too, but has not won as many races as he would have liked. The big picture, the title, is far more important. Mark Brummond still second in GSX and Moisey Uretsky has a plan to make a move. Brady Behrman, too, is plotting and probing.
Patrick Wilmot is also on a charge. That is the blue and silver #88 BMW. Down Madison Avenue they go, out of the Oak Tree corner. The new oak tree is still growing. It is merely a sapling. Jagger Jones is doing the business, laying the lap times down. Aghakhani is the same way. Jones and Aghakhani are sports car or open wheel drivers. Oh my! Some contact there, look, between Uretsky in the Porsche and Brummond in the BMW. Prototypes are scything their way through the GSX traffic including Alex Kirby who must be patient and he does not want to get his nose chopped off.
Frank DePew slides through down Madison Avenue using Kirby as a pick! That was a close shave! Blimey! Jordan Menzin, new to sports car racing, is in a scrap with Brian Thienes. Brady Behrman went off the road at the exit of Oak Tree. Patrick Wilmot applying the blowtorch to Brady Behrman now. Halfway through race one of the weekend for VP Challenge. In replay, Behrman slides in the dirt and then, DePew in that camouflage, zebra stripe Aston Martin, car #72 passes by. DePew is another native Virginian. DePew has lots of experience, and a longtime co-driver with Robin Liddell in Michelin Pilot Challenge.
Mark Brummond has continued to fend off the challenge of Moisey Uretsky. Meanwhile, Jordan Menzin is chasing Brian Thienes who lost several places after being passed by Ryan Phinny. Brady Behrman in the Aston Martin in GSX is also losing pace. Menzin has Oliver Askew as his driver coach, former IndyCar racer. Uretsky poking his nose inside Brummond again, look. Uretsky wants to pass. Believe me. Oh my! DePew clangs into Jagger Jones' car and gets the worst of it and poor old Brady Behrman was collected in the shemozzle. Aghakhai is chasing Jones as they split poor old Brummond in the BMW! Mark Brummon had to have the daylights scared out of him with the LMP3 screaming past him!
1:43.5, a new fastest lap for Jagger Jones. New track records set in LMP3 and GSX here at VIR this weekend. DePew spun after thinking he needed to lift and Brady Behrman too, made good his escape. Yikes! I don't think he hit anything. Oy vey! DePew had to add steering and lost control of the car. VP Challenge is the proving ground, the learning area for multi-class racing. To go fast, you need more experience, in different cars and environments. This is how you gain knowledge and perhaps wisdom. Brummond kept his line and let the LMP3 boys sort themsleves out.
Jones passes by Luca Mars up through the climbing esses. Aghakhani backs out of it a bit. Discretion the better part of valor, flying again down Madison Avenue. Into third in GSX is Patrick Wilmot in the #88 Split Decision Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 moving ahead of Moisey Uretsky in the #44 Baby Bull Racing Porsche Cayman. Game over for Alex Kirby after crash damage and overheating. Well, mostly overheating. Jonathan Hirshberg on debut could get a top five but now Brian Thienes passes and Jordan Menzin too, wants a bite of the cherry. Both of them are having good runs and now, Jordan Menzin spins off. He gets back underway and continue in the race, but he has lost ground.
Menzin is back underway, biting off more than he can chew with that move. Ryan Phinny continues to struggle. We have just over ten minutes to go. Jagger Jones leads the race to the tune of 2.2 seconds over Steven Aghakhani. Jagger Jones is doing everything he can and needs to do. He won't back out of it. That is not in his DNA with his father P.J. and grandfather Parnelli. He will keep pushing hard. 1:44 dead was his previous lap. Aghakhani is losing a small bit of time. Nine minutes left on the board and I don't think the LMP3 cars might catch the GSX pack again. However, it is possible.
Luca Mars on a Saturday drive, 32-33 seconds in hand in the GSX lead. Mars is well established in Michelin Pilot Challenge and in this series, it helps to develop the new Ford Mustang GT4. Mars will be racing with Bob Michaelian in another GT4 Mustang in Michelin Pilot Challenge later today. Mars leading the championship. Mars has a huge 36 second gap over the BMW of Mark Brummond. Poor old Brummond still has his hands full with Moisey Uretsky, Brady Behrman, and Patrick Wilmot. Wilmot is his new rival. Uretsky has slipped behind and poor old Behrman has flown Plummet Airways to the back of the pack.
Drivers like Luca Mars gaining technical knowledge for Pilot Challenge with GT4 cars later today. We are closing in on the end of race one. Five minutes to go. Traffic giveth. Traffic taketh away. Meanwhile, the battle is raging for second! Mark Brummond has Patrick Wilmot glued to his decklid. Wilmot wants a podium. Trust me. Jagger Jones might nab them before this race is over. Three and a half minutes to go. Over The Rollercoaster, the BMW's scrap with the LMP3 leaders coming fast. Steven Aghakhani is a smart young driver and is making decisive moves but wants the points to win the title.
Wilmot outside of Brummond in turns one and two. Nothing doing yet. No dice. Brummond slams the door in his face. Clean, fair racing. That is what everyone wants. Through the esses, this is going to be an ice cream headache. Wilmot right there and Aghakhani squeaks by! Oak Tree will be the next opportunity. Jagger Jones screaming down the backstretch, we should see the white flag. Mark Brummond and Patrick Wilmot continue their podium battle. White flag this time by with Jones 3.3 seconds ahead. One lap to go. Final lap of race one in VP Challenge at VIR.
Going fast is what Jones knows. Six out of six. Five out of six for a post-race technical infraction. Oh man! We still have the Mark Brummond and Patrick Wilmot story to tell. Wilmot being sensible and focusing forward. Don't worry about the bloke behind you. Optimize your own lap time. Luca Mars 44 seconds ahead. He is cruising but it is never over until it's over. Don't count your blessings just yet. Jagger Jones is really going after it and has been perfect. He wins another VP Sports Car Challenge race, and we have the race tomorrow morning to look forward to.
Brummond finishes second to Mars and Wilmot completes the GSX podium. Miguel Villagomez rounds out the podium in LMP3.
Overall/LMP3: #87 Jagger Jones FastMD Racing with Remstar Duqueine D08 Nissan
GSX: #59 Luca Mars KOHR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4
OK. Race one of the weekend for VP Racing Fuels Sports Car Challenge is in the bag at VIR. Excited to bring you the second and final race of this weekend, tomorrow morning. We'll see you then. Stay tuned, because we still have Michelin Pilot Challenge action to chat about, later this afternoon. That will be fun to watch as well. We'll see you soon, from here at VIR. Bye for now.
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