Taylor, Garcia Win Michelin GT Challenge at VIR

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Corvette Racing kept its GTD Pro championship hopes alive with victory in Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.

An undercut strategy by the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD on the final pit stop of the GT-only round and a stall in the pits for the then-leading No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Ben Barnicoat handed the lead to Jordan Taylor.

Taylor managed his advantage over Barnicoat to finish 2.068-seconds ahead of the Lexus for the Pratt Miller-run factory squad’s second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win of the season.

Having started on pole, the No. 14 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth held control in the early stages and only lost the overall lead to the then-leading GTD car of Bryan Sellers in the second hour through a three-way fight that included Taylor.

The No. 3 Corvette, started by Antonio Garcia, remained in contention throughout for the duo’s second win the in the last four WeatherTech Championship races.

Paul Miller Racing, meanwhile, claimed its fifth GTD class victory of the season, leading a BMW 1-2 sweep in category.

Madison Snow took the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 to a 12.187-second margin over the No. 96 Turner Motorsport entry of Robby Foley, who came home second alongside Patrick Gallagher.

The No. 97 BMW of Bill Auberlen was en route to a third place finish prior to getting passed by the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Philip Ellis with two laps to go.

It came after the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 was forced to serve a drive-through penalty due to working underneath the car while refueling.

Frederik Schandorff was running third in class at the time of the penalty and charged back to finish seventh.

Snow shared top honors with Sellers, who for the second consecutive race completed only the middle stint in the two-hour and 40-minute race. The duo finished third overall.

Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo completed the top-five in class in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, while AO Racing ended up as the highest-placed Porsche 911 GT3 R, finishing sixth.

The race featured two full course cautions, the first for a heavy crash by David Brule in the No. 92 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche, followed by ABS-related issues for Misha Goikhberg, who crashed the No. 78 Forte Racing by US RaceTronics Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

The GTD Pro class No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes, which started on the outside of the front row, lost two laps after an unscheduled stop late in the second hour after contact between Jules Gounon and Klaus Bachler’s No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche.

Bachler rebounded to finish third in GTD Pro, ahead of the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, which had an off-course excursion in the hands of Alex Riberas after contact with Mikael Grenier.

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