Pfaff’s Jaminet, Campbell Take Controlling Win at VIR

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell have claimed their fifth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the season following a controlling run in GTD Pro in Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.

Jaminet took his No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R to a 0.823-second win over Jordan Taylor’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD in a race that saw a number of GTD runners attempt to stretch their fuel mileage.

The Frenchman emerged on the race’s final restart in seventh overall but moved up the running order in the closing 30 minutes as five of the six leading GT3 cars that were on alternative strategies pitted for splashes of fuel.

Maxime Martin in the No. 27 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 was the only holdout, but lost the overall lead to the Porsche factory driver with four minutes left on the clock as the Belgian was on a significant fuel save.

Jaminet and Campbell head into October’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans needing to only start the ten-hour race enduro at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to be crowned GTD Pro class champions.

Taylor and co-driver Antonio Garcia were followed home by the GTD class-winning No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Philip Ellis, who was one of the cars to pit with eight minutes to go.

The Swiss driver emerged ahead of the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Aaron Telitz, who along with co-driver Frankie Montecalvo, faded to fourth at the checkered flag after taking the effective lead of GTD.

A late race pass by Bryan Sellers gave newly crowned WeatherTech Sprint Cup champions Paul Miller Racing a third place result in class despite taking left side tires on Sellers’ final stop.

Martin, meanwhile, completed the final 1 hour and 14 minutes on fuel to finish second alongside Roman De Angelis, who provisionally takes over the GTD points lead as a result.

The Aston Martin ran out of fuel on the cool down lap.

Ellis and co-driver Russell Ward earned their second consecutive WeatherTech Championship victory, and four in a row when counting their success in last weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS rounds at Road America.

It came after the Swiss driver took out an advertising board halfway through the two-hour and 40-minute contest, which resulted in a yellow for debris.

De Angelis heads into Road Atlanta with a 45-point lead over Team Korthoff Motorsports’ Stevan McAleer, who finished eighth in class on Sunday after making an unscheduled stop due to a loose right-rear wheel in the second hour.

RESULTS: Michelin GT Challenge

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