Dennis, Li Win VIR Race 2 in ‘Lightning McLaren’

Casey Dennis and James Li won the second race of the McLaren Trophy America weekend at Virginia International Raceway, controlling the pace in the second phase after inheriting the overall lead during a mid-race restart.

Dennis took the lead of the race in his No. 74 RWE Motorsport McLaren Artura Tophy Evo from second after the then-leading No. 53 RP Motorsports by Forte Racing machine of Neil Langberg dipped a wheel off track during the 50-minute contest’s mid-race restart. Langberg rejoined the pack fifth in AM and tenth overall.

Li had consistently held second position in the opening phase of the race, before handing the ‘Lightning McLaren’ over to Dennis, still in the lead of the Pro class and amongst the overall race leaders.

At the checkered flag, Dennis secured RWE the win by 9.211 seconds over Am class winner and second-place finisher James Sofronas.

Sofornas consistently fought at the head of the Am field, ultimately taking the class victory from second on the road after a drive-through penalty for a short pit stop was assessed to the then-class-leading No. 5 Dark Horse Racing entry of Deniz Teoman.

The GMG Racing driver had made up ground from fifth overall ahead of the restart to finish in the podium positions.

In Pro-Am, John Dempsey made a move on Alexandra Hainer for the class lead and third place overall in the closing stages, securing the class win and overall podium result alongside fellow Race 1 winner Andrew Davis.

The pair made up ground in the second half of the race after recovering from a drive-through penalty for a short pit stop after an opening stint that saw Davis initially move ahead of the race-winning No. 74 crew.

Hainer and Jesse Lazare finished fourth overall in their No. 43 Motorsports In Action entry to claim second in Pro-Am, with Colin Harrisson’s Am class TechSport McLaren rounding out the overall top five.

Stephen Sorbaro was victorious in the Papaya Cup in his solo-driven victory in the No. 49 OMS Artura Tophy Evo, finishing Sunday’s contest sixth overall.

Kevin Madsen led the start from pole position after race stewards determined that the overall pole-sitting No. 5 McLaren of Jeff Cook and Teoman “was missing 4kg of Driver Ballast” in post-qualifying technical inspection, and moved the Am class Dark Horse Racing entry to the back of the grid.

A nearly ten-second overall lead for Madsen’s co-driver, Langberg was erased with roughly 20 minutes remaining after a full-course caution came out for a stricken Tommy Pintos, who stopped his No. 919 Skip Barber Racing McLaren on track between Turns 2  and 3, bringing out the safety car and setting up a late shootout to the checkered flag.

RESULTS: Race 2