VIR Thursday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***SRO America returns to action this weekend after a 61-day break since the last round at Circuit of The Americas, with Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, Pirelli GT4 America, GT America powered by AWS and TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School all in action, along with the SRO America-sanctioned Toyota GR Cup North America.

***The GT4 America entry list is down to 27 entries after the No. 33 Rigid Speed BMW M4 GT4 of Lucas and Joseph Catania has been moved to GT America action this weekend, with Joseph set to drive solo. It has resulted in an increased 19-car grid for the single-driver sprint series, while no changes have been made to the Fanatec GT America entry since the pre-event entry list was published last week.

***Random Vandals Racing ran its BMW M4 GT3 during Thursday’s test sessions, with Kenton Koch, Conor Daly and Connor De Phillippi all in attendance. Koch and Daly are slated to give the car its Fanatec GT America debut next month at Road America, with the BMW factory driver joining the duo for the season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour powered by AWS.

***Colin Braun topped the time charts in Thursday’s test, having reeled off a best lap of 1:45.678 in his No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in the morning session, which stood as the quickest of the day amid hot and humid conditions in the afternoon. Braun was just 0.079 seconds quicker than Regulator Racing’s Philip Ellis.

***A number of drivers and teams have found success in other series or endurance races during the two-month break, namely CrowdStrike by Riley, which scored Pro-Am class honors in last month’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with drivers Braun, George Kurtz, Nicky Catsburg and Heart of Racing team principal Ian James.

***CrowdStrike by Riley’s class win at Spa is understood to be the first victory by a U.S. team in the race since 1949, when Luigi Chinetti’s Ferrari 166MM took top overall honors. This year’s effort was overseen by Bill Riley and featured the majority of the team’s Fanatec GT America crew.

***Both Nolasport and ST Racing took part in the GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club races at Spa, while Heart of Racing Team’s Gray Newell and Roman De Angelis got their first taste of Le Mans, contesting the Road to Le Mans and 24 Hours of Le Mans races, respectively.

***Heart of Racing Team’s Hannah Hannah Greenemeier and Hannah Grisham were also in Le Mans, taking part in the team’s Fun Cup effort. The female duo combined for a 15th place finish out of 115 total entries in the four-hour enduro on the eve of the twice-around-the-clock French endurance classic.

***Greenemeier and Grisham are competing in the GT4 America Silver class this weekend, in what was a team decision to move from Pro-Am, where they were re-classified at Circuit of The Americas following Grisham’s elevation from Bronze* to Silver driver rating. A team spokesperson confirmed to Sportscar365 that Greenemeier has remained a Bronze*, with the move to the Silver class to prevent its two team cars competing against each other in Pro-Am.

***Kyle Washington will debut his new Type-992 Porsche 911 GT3 R this weekend in the Fanatec GT America race alongside co-driver Tom Sargent. The team’s previous Type-992 chassis, meanwhile, will replace the Type 991.2 model Porsche that Washington utilized in GT America races up until now.

***Team principal James Sofronas said: “Having a new car, like the 992 No. 32 Porsche 911 GT3 R, always brings some energy with it, and I have no doubts all of that momentum will come right back to Kyle, Tom and everybody on the team once we get back on track in Virginia.”

***Bryan Sellers, driver of the No. 08 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, believed the new-for-2024 GT3 contender, which won last time out with teammates Tommy Milner and Alec Udell, will be well-suited to the 3.27-mile circuit, in its first race appearance at VIR.

***Sellers said: “It’s a track that it will excel at. The more time we can continue to get our hands on the car and get familiar with it, the more we’ll grow and the better we will become. If you look at Austin, we had really good results with the 63 car. We all went away happy but still striving to improve and gain more. That’ll be our goal at VIR – to take the next step and hopefully get both cars in contention and on the podium.”

***SRO America is set to meet with teams this weekend for further discussions on the shape of Fanatec GT America next year. While the schedule was released last month at Spa, the series has yet to confirm the exact format of the races, which is believed to remain relatively unchanged but with several new enhancements.

***The annual ‘State of the Series’ address will be hosted by SRO America President and CEO Greg Gill during next month’s round at Road America, which will solidify any potential changes for the 2025 seasons.

***Porsche and Mercedes-AMG remain locked in a tight battle at the top of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS standings, while Ferrari has forced itself into contention by taking a big haul of points from the centenary 24 Hours of Spa.

***The Stuttgart brand holds 10,516 points, marking a 568-point advantage over fellow German manufacturer Mercedes-AMG, with Ferrari elevated to third with 9,323 points.

***In addition to Fanatec GT America, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup is in action at Hockenheim this weekend, ahead of next weekend’s Endurance Cup round at the Nürburgring.

***BMW, meanwhile, has stretched its advantage at the top of the new-for-2024 worldwide GT4 Manufacturer Ranking, while Porsche is facing increasing pressure from Aston Martin as the season reaches its halfway point. BMW sits at 14,181 points, with a 1,628-point lead over Porsche heading into this weekend.

***Official track action at VIR kicks off on Friday with practice sessions for all series, with qualifying set for Saturday morning ahead of the first races of the weekend later that day. The second races, meanwhile, are scheduled for Sunday, with all race action streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel as well as on Twitch.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John