GS Points Leaders Seek Bounce Back This Weekend at VIR

The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GS championship leaders look to rebound from abnormal Road America results for the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway.

Robert Noaker will share the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 with new co-driver Finn Wiebelhaus starting at VIR.

The No. 13 car has finished in the top 11 in each of the first seven races and built its championship lead from 30 points to 100 entering VIR. Ford scored a pair of podiums at VIR last year in the hands of KohR Motorsports, finishing second and third behind eventual season champions Luca Mars and Jan Heylen in the RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.

Each of the top five in the championship all finished seventh or worse in the Road America 120. That brought a sixth possible GS title contender into play, in the form of series newcomers YRB Racing and Road America winners Trenton Estep and Allen Patten in their No. 66 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo.

The second consecutive first-time GS winners have ascended to sixth and only 190 points out of the lead. A second successive win would propel this team even closer to the front of the pack only a handful of races after debuting at Watkins Glen International following an acquisition of van der Steur Racing.

But winning this season has not necessarily been a good thing for GS winners in their next race. In an odd quirk, the results for GS winners in their next race, starting at Sebring, have been 29th, ninth, second, fourth, 21st and 28th, for an average 15th place finish. The gap from first to 15th place in IMSA’s scoring system is, conveniently, 190 points.

Mars and Dillon Machavern rebounded with a seventh place in their No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO to jump back to second in points.

They’re tied with fellow BMW runners Stevan McAleer and Austin Krainz in their No. 27 AutoTechnic Racing BMW and 10 points clear of fourth-placed Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky in the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4. Winward Racing’s Bryce Ward completes the top five, 160 back, in his No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT GT4.

TCR has, on paper, been a bit more straightforward.

The Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris pair secured their sixth podium from seven 2026 starts aboard the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR. They hold a 150-point lead on teammates Preston Brown and Denis Dupont, who share the No. 76 Hyundai.

Either or both of these two need a big VIR result to make inroads on the Nos. 33 and 76 cars, which appear set to vie for the title in the last three races.

Among the 42 cars split 29 GS and 13 TCR, there are several other changes.

CarBahn’s No. 39 BMW is absent this race. CSM now switches to Aston Martin for its two entries, and its second car features Ismaeel Ellahi graduating from IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge alongside Ayrton Houk.

Kingpin Racing makes its second start of the season with Patrick Wilmot and Tyler Hoffman. Celso Neto and Eddie Gou, who finished second in TCR at Road America in the No. 55 Gou Racing w/Stallion Audi RS 3 LMS TCR, switch to the No. 77 Stallion Motorsports w/GOU CUPRA Leon VZ TCR this race.

There are two one-hour practice sessions Friday, with qualifying Saturday morning and the Saturday race at 2:15 p.m. ET and local time. It streams on Peacock and ad-free, courtesy of Michelin, on the IMSA YouTube channel.