Sandy Mitchell and Andrea Caldarelli claimed victory for Pfaff Motorsports within the Michelin GT Problem at Virginia Worldwide Raceway.
Mitchell took the closing stint from pole-winner Caldarelli, and coasted to the win by 1.517s on the three.27-mile, 18-turn pure terrain highway course. It’s the second consecutive win for Caldarelli and co.
Ford Racing’s Ben Barker and Dennis Olson completed second, forward of teammates Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch in third.
The GTD Professional championship tightened significantly, with Paul Miller Racing’s Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi simply 23 factors forward of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ duo of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner, with Caldarelli and Mitchell now 56 factors behind.
The GTD class featured late drama, with Tom Gamble (Coronary heart of Racing) and Philip Ellis (Winward Racing) coming collectively late, handing the previous a drive-through penalty and the latter the win. Turner Motorsport completed second 6.413s behind with Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher.
With three wins in a row now for reigning two-time champions Winward Racing, they took over the GTD factors lead, with Foley and Gallagher 36 factors behind. Dudu Barrichello, the factors chief coming in with Coronary heart of Racing, slid down to 3rd at 56 factors again leaving VIR.
The race
Caldarelli (Pfaff Motorsports) led the sector – GTD Professional and general – to the inexperienced flag into Flip 1 and instantly established a spot.
Moments later, nonetheless, Alexander Sims (Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports) and Harry King (AO Racing) have been combating side-by-side when a collision despatched the previous off monitor and exhausting into the tire limitations in Flip 8. The #3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Sims went went nose-up and briefly grew to become airborne earlier than coming to relaxation partially on the tire limitations.
The restart got here with roughly 2h21m remaining, with Caldarelli as soon as once more getting a stable leap on Nicky Catsburg.
#14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat
Photograph by: Artwork Fleischmann
In GTD, Conquest Racing’s Lorenzo Patrese was hit with a drive-through penalty by Race Management for incident contact with class pole-sitter DragonSpeed previous to the warning. In consequence, Danny Formal (Wayne Taylor Racing) took over the category lead.
With 2h remaining, Caldarelli solely squeezed out a 1s lead over Catsburg as driver modifications started for almost all of the sector. Caldarelli pitted from the lead with 1h48m remaining, handing the No. 9 Lamborghini to Mitchell. Catsburg briefly inherited the general lead earlier than an off-track second, then stopped a couple of minutes later for Tommy Milner to take over the No. 3 Corvette. The cease was delayed barely when the door didn’t latch correctly.
#77 AO Racing Porsche 911: Nick Tandy, Harry King
Photograph by: Artwork Fleischmann
King remained out on monitor as a part of an prolonged opening stint, with Mitchell a distant second at 33s behind however operating 1.3s per lap sooner than the chief.
The GTD class noticed Patrese assume the lead however had but to make his first full pit cease. Patrese lastly pitted with underneath 1h38m to go, handing the result in Trent Hindman, who took over for Formal.
King’s lead stabilized at 30s with 1h33m left, however nonetheless had not made his first pit cease. King lastly dove to pit lane with 1h28m to go, biking Hindman again to the entrance.
Mitchell held a 8.2s lead over Ford Racing’s Ben Barker with 1h16m left, whereas Hindman’s lead in GTD was at 1.4s over the Coronary heart of Racing’s Tom Gamble.
The sphere logged 50 laps with simply over 1hr left within the 2h40m dash race, which is when Mitchell pitted from the lead; Barker took excessive spot. Hindman pitted from the GTD lead with just below 1h to go, with Formal taking on and rising immediately forward of Gamble.
The GTD Professional lead noticed Barker pit the following lap, with Tandy taking on the lead and Mitchell rising again to second. Tandy pitted shortly after.
With underneath 50m to go, Tandy was thrust into a decent battle with Ben Barnicoat (Vasser Sullivan) that noticed the 2 come collectively and ship the latter astray briefly. Tandy was handed a drive-through penalty on account of the contact.
#59 RLL Group McLaren McLaren 720S GT3 EVO: Max Esterson, Nikita Johnson
Photograph by: Artwork Fleischmann
In the meantime, Formal was additionally hit with a drive-through penalty for blocking Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis.
With 36m to go, Mitchell held a 4s lead over Barker, whereas Gamble’s lead stood at 1.5s over Ellis in GTD.
Ellis started to shut considerably on Gamble for the GTD lead, with the hole all the way down to 0.6s with 29m remaining.
Ellis caught Gamble as the 2 went side-by-side by way of the rollercoaster part, with the latter holding agency regardless of the strain.
With 10m to go, Mitchell held a 3.8s lead over Barker, with Nikita Johnson (RLL Group McLaren) a distant third at 37s again. In GTD, Gamble continued to carry a 0.5s hole on Ellis, with Robby Foley (Turner Motorsport) 17s again in third.
#57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: Russell Ward, Philip Ellis
Photograph by: Artwork Fleischmann
Ellis made a late transfer on Gamble to attempt to take the lead with simply over 6m to enter Flip 3, however Gamble slid up into Ellis and despatched him off into the dust briefly. Though the incident went underneath assessment, Gamble handed the result in Ellis, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient to forestall Race Management from handing Gamble a drive-thru penalty. Gamble took the penalty with 3m to go.
Mitchell took the GTD Professional and general victory by 1.517s over Barker, whereas Ellis claimed the GTD win after Gamble served his penalty.
1
9
Lamborghini Temerario GT3
84
3
2
64
Ford Mustang GT3
84
1.517
3
3
65
Ford Mustang GT3
84
37.522
3
4
68
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo
84
3.398
3
5
1
BMW M4 GT3 EVO
84
1.792
3
6
57
Mercedes-AMG GT3
84
14.414
3
7
4
Corvette Z06 GT3.R
84
0.591
3
8
14
Lexus RC F GT3
84
4.770
3
9
96
BMW M4 GT3 EVO
84
1.052
3
10
70
Ferrari 296 GT3
84
1.951
3
11
27
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo
84
0.553
4
12
M. Esterson
N. Johnson RLL Group McLaren
59
McLaren 720S GT3 EVO
84
3.368
4
13
45
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2
84
0.449
4
14
13
Corvette Z06 GT3.R
84
3.506
3
15
H. King AO Racing
77
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
84
19.805
4
16
34
Ferrari 296 GT3
84
1.260
5
17
36
Corvette Z06 GT3.R
84
0.782
3
18
12
Lexus RC F GT3
84
0.458
3
19
120
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
84
1.426
3
20
66
Ford Mustang GT3
83
1 Lap
5
21
81
Corvette Z06 GT3.R
78
5 Laps
6
22
16
Ford Mustang GT3
60
18 Laps
8
23
3
Corvette Z06 GT3.R
0
1
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