IMSA GT classes set to take center stage at VIR

IMSA’s GT classes will be in the spotlight next weekend at the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway. Since 2015, IMSA’s annual visit to VIR has been a GT-exclusive round, and this year 23 cars will enter the two-hour, 40-minute sprint race.

The field is made up of 10 GTD Pro and 13 GTD entries. Of note, the new Car Blanche team continues its trend of hopping back and forth between GTD in Endurance races and GTD Pro in sprints. The No. 68 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo will be driven by Valentin Hasse-Clot and Marco Sørensen.

A regular fixture of Aston Martin THOR Team’s Hypercar line-up in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Sørensen returns to IMSA competition for the first time since the Rolex 24 At Daytona when he drove the Aston Martin Valkyrie. The Danish driver finished second in the GTD championship for Heart of Racing back in 2023, the year that he and Roman de Angelis won their class at Daytona.

Otherwise, the remaining teams return with their regular sprint line-ups, including Robert Wickens in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette, and Corey Lewis in the No. 66 Gradient Racing Ford.

Three races remain in the season for both GT classes, and the turbulent Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America has made the GTD Pro title race very close once again. Just 21 points – less than the difference between finishing first and second – separate the leading No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW (Connor De Phillippi/Neil Verhagen) from the second-place No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R (Tommy Milner/Nicky Catsburg) and third-place No. 77 AO Racing Porsche (Nick Tandy/Harry King).

Meanwhile, the points battle in GTD has tightened up dramatically. Lost in the many dramas of this month’s Road America race, the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin also took a post-race time penalty for an unsafe rejoin late in the race, which dropped it from fifth to 15th in the final classification.

Heart of Racing’s Eduardo Barrichello still leads the GTD drivers’ standings, but now his lead is just 24 points and the top four teams in the standings are covered by just 45 points. That includes the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG (Russell Ward/Philip Ellis) that has won the last two races in GTD, as well as the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW (Patrick Gallagher/Robby Foley) and No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus (Benjamin Pedersen/Aaron Telitz).

Last year, Corvette Racing’s Antonio García and Alexander Sims took the overall win en route to the GTD Pro championship, while Winward Racing won GTD, leading to a second consecutive series title.