RS1’s Heylen, Mars Extend Points Lead With VIR Win

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Jan Heylen and Luca Mars extended their IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge points lead with victory in Saturday’s Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway.

Heylen, in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, passed the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Francis Selldorff for the lead on the race’s final restart with 15 minutes to go.

The Florida-based Belgian then drove to a 0.658-second win over the No. 60 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 of Sam Paley, who also got past Selldorff in the closing moments.

The win for the RS1 duo, their third of the season, came despite an off-course excursion for Mars during his stint after contact with the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Bryce Ward, who was given a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

The No. 59 KohR Motorsports Mustang GT4 of Billy Johnson and Robert Michaelian completed the podium in third, with Selldorff dropping to fourth in the BMW he shared with Dillon Machavern.

Gregory Liefooghe made it three Mustang GT4s in the top-five in his No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing entry, despite stopping on track on the cool-down lap.

The pole-sitting No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Mustang GT4 of Nate Cicero dominated the first half of the two-hour contest, having opened up to a 8.5-second lead, but a suspected gearbox issue during the car’s one-and-only stop dropped it nearly a lap behind.

Jenson Altzman, who entered the weekend second in the GS points standings, rebounded to finish 11th, aided by the late-race yellow for the No. 10 Rockwell Autosport Development Audi RS 3 LMS TCR of Bruno Colombo, who went off in Turn 11.

Speed Syndicate Take First TCR Win in Five Years in Dramatic Finish

Jaden Conwright and Luke Rumburg gave RVA Graphics Motorsports By Speed Syndicate its first class victory in five years in TCR, following a rough-and-tumble finish to the race in the touring car ranks.

Conwright in the No. 31 Racing to End Alzheimer’s-backed Audi passed the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Mark Wilkins for the class lead with 11 minutes to go.

It came moments after Conwright and the class championship-leading No. 98 BHA Hyundai of Harry Gottsacker came together in Turn 14 while battling for second in class.

Gottsacker sustained damage to his Hyundai and was stricken aside the track, although officials deemed it a racing incident.

While claiming a first win under the RVA Graphics Motorsports banner, Speed Syndicate’s last triumph in Pilot Challenge competition came at Mid-Ohio in 2020 as part of a double header weekend.

The No. 56 Gou Racing CUPRA Leon VZ TCR of Eduardo and Eddie Gou finished third after final-lap contact with the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR of Karl Wittmer.

Race control deemed the incident inconclusive.

The fourth place result for the MMG Honda came after Wittmer served an earlier drive-through penalty for incident responsibility due to contact with the No. 71 Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo of Robin Liddell.

Wittmer’s co-driver LP Montour led the way prior to the mid-race pit stops.

The No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing CUPRA of Eric Powell paced the early stages of the race until he was collected in a three-car accident triggered by the No. 4 CarBahn BMW of Bill Cain, who was handed a stop-and-hold plus-60-second penalty for incident responsibility.

The pileup brought out the race’s second yellow.

RESULTS: Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix

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