The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship’s visit to the Virginia International Raceway this weekend provided perhaps one of the best GTD only races so far although things certainly didn’t go the way of one of the two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD entries as late contact on one came with a significant cost.

Racing as the nineth round of the season, this weekend’s programme was just for the GTD Pro and GTD classes but that still provided twenty-three cars onto Sunday’s grid for the two hours and forty-minute race.

 

Like the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series before it, some of the earlier practice sessions were affected by torrential rain and passing storms but the race was able to run under full sunshine and a dry track. Yesterday’s qualifying had seen the #68 Car Blanche AMR Vantage GTD Pro car of Valentin Hasse-Clot and Marco Sorensen secure a fifth place start whilst the #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GTD of Eduardo Barrichello and Tom Gamble had seen their two best laps deleted for exceeding their permitted power output during that session (as measured instantaneously via the car’s torque sensors) to find themselves demoted to P12 in class as a consequence.

Having built up an early class lead during the longer opening rounds of the season, recent results for the Barrichello lead car had seen that lead gradually reduce after they got repeatedly outscored by those chasing, so a decent result at VIR was vital for their championship efforts. The Car Blanche team, meanwhile, were running within only their second Pro class race since their buyout from Van Der Steur Racing earlier in the year but their hopes were raised this time with this full factory driver line up.

 

Unfortunately, the race got underway to all familiar incidents and accidents that saw three cars effectively eliminated from the race halfway around the opening laps but that certainly appeared to be more out of circumstance than anything else as Race Control was expected to take a firm hand to anything else after incidents at recent races.

Getting back to green after the twenty-minute clean up, the race certainly settled within both classes as everyone was looking to ‘steady their ships’ around the tight and twisting 3.27-mile VIR circuit as that lap one incident had again proven, that the outfield grass was extremely wet and any retardation attempt once upon it, was slight to nil.

 

For the #68 car of Hasse-Clot, it was steady as she goes as the Frenchman held his P5 starting position into what would become a near two-hour stint. The #27 GTD of Barrichello was however make quick progress through the ranks from P12, through to P8 and incredibly up to third in class by the forty-five-minute mark of the race (minimum drive time).

Whilst Barrichello would pit for service and a driver change to Gamble just after that race milestone, the #68 would only pit for fuel and tyres before being sent upon their way again as at the halfway point of the race, both Aston Martins held a podium winning position within their classes as the racing action around the circuit began to pick up in intensity but thankfully remained clean.

 

At the top of the final hour, Hasse-Clot would eventually stop from third in class to allow Sorensen his first racing laps whilst Gamble would follow him in next time around for what would be his final service and the dash to the flag having just overtaken the then class leading Lamborghini after they ran wide.

As the race clock went down to the final thirty minutes, the #27 car would have a race upon their hands as the #57 Mercedes AMG car had now caught them in what would become very significant within the championship stakes as it was the #57 crew immediately behind Barrichello in class. A lead of just 0.621 seconds was never going to boke well at this level of motorsport!

 

As the time counted down, the racing intensified between the two cars as neither driver would give ground to the other until a mistake from Gamble with only six minutes remaining allowed the #57 passed only for the British driver to force his way through (and push the Mercedes off track) at the next corner. Fearing a penalty, the #27 would soon allow the #57 back past but that wasn’t enough for the new world Race Control after weeks of criticism going their way for driver standards.

That Drive through penalty for incident responsibility was quickly given to the #27 and that would have a disastrous consequence of dropping them down to P5 in the order with only minutes remaining. At the chequered flag, the #68 crew would cross the line a very worthy fourth in class and whilst the #27 would recover to finish P4, that effectively meant that the points lost to the #57 crew within the championship had now doubled as the series moves onto Indianapolis in a month’s time.

 

A few races ago, the move by Gamble would have been tolerated and they may have still won the class – just sadly not today!

Photo credits – Teams

 

 

 

Yesterday’s eighth round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series from the beautiful Virginia International Raceway must have left the #26 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing powered crew of Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeir thinking of just what they needed to do to earn themselves a decent points finish as again, they were left broken hearted at the end.

Twenty-nine GS (GT4) and thirteen TCR based cars would be entering this round with the AMR powered head count increased to six with the late inclusion of two such Vantage GT4 cars from the CSM Motorsport after they entered both their previous VP Racing Sportscar Challenge and then swapped their previous Porsche entry in favour of the Vantage for the remainder of the season.

 

Heavy rainfall had blighted some of the earlier sessions around the 3.27-mile circuit and for the first time in three races, the #26 Heart of Racing entry had to be contended with just a second row starting position this time around as the highest placed AMR entry again after the #66 Car Blanche entry of Allen Patten and Trenton Estep lost their fastest qualifying time by being responsible for a red flag incident on track during an earlier session. 

 

It was another great representation from the seven Aston Martin Racing powered crews who featured within the SRO America trilogy of series at their final races of the season from Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the weekend with both pole positions and prizes galore at the end for many.

Sadly, none of the Vantage GT3 and Vantage GT4 powered crews were jockeying for any of the remaining class championships within the GT World Challenge America, GT America or GT4 America Series but some left with their best results of the season from the weather affected weekend to end their year upon something of a high at least.

The final races of the SRO America trilogy of series run out from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend with what appears to be a changeable number of Aston Martin Racing powered runners within each of the GT America, GT4 America and GT World Challenge America Series.

Unfortunately this season, none of the many AMR powered crews entered within any of the three series have secured or are in contention to secure any overall or class championship wins so that fact may have affected upon who has not decided to enter this final round.

Within the headlining GT World Challenge Series, it is again just the #24 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of usually just Gray Newell and AMR factory driver Darren Turner but as this round is also incorporated into the final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge Series, the team have stepped up to complete that eight-hour race with the support of third man driver Zacharie Robichon.

This was Newell’s first full time season aboard with the AMR Vantage GT3 and alongside the tutelage of Turner who is himself visiting some of these American circuits for the first time within his extensive experience, they have still enjoyed podium success together this season.

Their track activity begins on Wednesday with testing before Qualifying and the top ten shoot out on Friday evening with the start to the race at 12:20hrs local.

Within the GT4 America Series, there will this time be just four AMR powered crews for their standard two, one-hour races around the infield circuit of the infamous track.

JMF Motorsport return with their two entries for both Jesse Webb/Jonathon Neudorf and mike David Ortmann, Barydon Arthur aboard their #3 and #4 cars respectively togther with the #26 Heart of Racing entry of Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeir as well as the #39 Van Der Steur entry of Max Hewitt and Luca Mars.

Race results have been there for all these crews throughout the season, but it has been consistency that has been lacking this time around with Ortmann and Arthur being the best of these four silver class runners, P3 overall in the table going into this final round but already too far back to improve.

That leaves two AMR powered entries within the GT America Series with Jason Bell again ticking the GT3 box with his Racers Edge prepared car whilst we welcome back another Vantage GT4 to the grid in the hands of Mike Johnson and an Archangel Motorsport with Prosport Competition entry.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

 

It’s a very busy race weekend next weekend from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta as the IMSA Series descends upon the Georgia circuit en-masse for its final rounds of its Weathertech Sportscar Championship, Michelin Pilot Challenge and VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Series amongst others.

The Weathertech Championship obviously gets all the attention this weekend as this will be its annual ten-hour round which has been traditional bannered as Petit Le Mans for which there will be over fifty entries within its available GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD classes.

 

Last weekend’s penultimate round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship from Indianapolis Motor Speedway wasn’t exactly kind to the three Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing powered runners as two lowly double digit finishing positions were the best that they could muster.

Up until Qualifying for Sundays race, the IMSA based performance of the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie of Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis had been upon the right side of an impressive learning curve for the new for 2025 chassis whilst the team’s #27 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTD of Casper Stevenson, Tom Gamble and Zacharie Robichon was again another crew to watch.

 

The was further Aston Martin Racing powered success within the Bronze Cup sub-category of the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series yesterday as the GS and TCR based series raced out their penultimate round of the season around Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Four Vantage GT4 entries again from the Team TGM, Rebel Rock and Van Der Steur teams saw the forty-one strong combined grid run almost an entirely clean first hour (except for the usual technical infractions here and there) before the Safety Car was finally called out for duty just before that milestone which of course bumped the grid back together again.

 

Qualifying for penultimate round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship proved itself to be a near lap record breaking achievement for the #27 Heart of Racing of Caspar Stevenson he placed his Aston Martin Racing Vantage firmly onto the front row of the GTD for tomorrows race.

With eighteen cars out in class for the first of four qualifying sessions, the young Englishman never looked troubled eventually beating their nearest rival by nearly 0.2 of a second as the car continued their earlier pace in Free Practice 2 where he and co-drivers Tom Gamble and Zacharie Robichon also topped the GTD timing screen. This was Stevenson's first IMSA pole position achievement.

 

Like the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship before it, the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series will also be hosting their penultimate round to their season from the historic Indianapolis as two Aston Martin Racing powered teams still dice it out for championship glory.

With another two-hour thriller hopefully in store for us all on Saturday afternoon, four AMR powered crews again go racing within the twenty-five strong GS class plus a further sixteen TCR based crews as eight rounds into the season, only those battling within the GS Bronze Cup can hope for anything out of this season now.