VIR Friday Notebook

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

***Several drivers, including Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nicky Catsburg, Harry Tincknell of Ford Multimatic Motorsports and AO Racing’s Laurin Heinrich, turned their first laps of Virginia International Raceway in official conditions in Friday’s opening practice session for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.

***Castsburg said: “The track seems really nice. It’s a typical American track in that if you go off-track where if you go off, you’re into the grass or into the wall, which is cool. There are some nice high-speed sections and is a little more abrasive that some other places we’ve had this year. So it will be a bit of a tire-life game. It’s a cool track. The car feels OK, so I’m quite pleased. We’ll try to focus on getting into a window for qualifying and then hopefully have a good race.”

***It’s understood that Heart of Racing Team’s Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis have been among the latest drivers to have sampled the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH in Europe as the testing program with the car continues ahead of its debut in the WeatherTech Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship next year. Heart of Racing refused to comment on the matter when reached by Sportscar365.

***AO Racing could have Julien Andlauer back in the team’s No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R for October’s Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta according to team principal Gunnar Jeannette, who told Sportscar365 that they’re waiting on a final call from Porsche for the last two races of the season. Heinrich is joined by Klaus Bachler for this weekend, marking the team’s third different co-driver in the last three races.

***Jeannette wouldn’t confirm that ‘Rexy’ would return for Indianapolis but said that the fan-favorite green dinosaur livery will be back on the car before the end of the year following its summer break, indicating that it would be in action for the season-ending Petit Le Mans.

***Sportscar365 understands of at least two additional GTD Pro/GTD entries for next month’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, both of which are set to make their second starts of the season but with one featuring an all-new driver lineup.

***Erik Skirmants, formerly of Porsche Motorsport North America, has been named the new senior motorsports manager for Lamborghini North America. Skirmants is on his first official race weekend in his new role here at VIR.

***Skirmants and Alexandra LaDuca, who joined Lamborghini as its senior coordinator for Super Trofeo North America back at Watkins Glen, have effectively taken over the role of Chris Ward, who was let go from the company late last year. Ward, meanwhile, has since gone on to become the President of HSR.

***Among the series on the support bill this weekend is the debuting HSR NASCAR Classic presented by Petty’s Garage, which sees a 15-car grid of stock cars that have retired from active competition. Past and present stock car and sports car racing notables such as Joe Nemechek, Mike Skeen and PJ Hyett are competing this weekend, with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and Hall of Famer Richard Petty also on-site.

***Former IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge champion Owen Trinkler is making his return to racing this weekend in International GT competition at Watkins Glen International, driving a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. Trinkler, who raced with third-degree burns in this year’s Pilot Challenge season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, has been left without a ride in the series since parting ways with Team TGM.

***Pilot Challenge competitor Todd Coleman was spotted in the WeatherTech Championship paddock on Friday trying on Pfaff Motorsports’ McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, accompanied by his current co-driver Aaron Telitz. The two currently share an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 entered by Archangel Motorsports.

***Random Vandals Racing, which made its GT3 debut in last weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS weekend, has ended its Pilot Challenge season early following a double compression vertebrae fracture by team owner/driver Paul Sparta in the Pirelli GT4 America race at Road America.

***Sparta was due to share his BMW M4 GT4 this weekend with Kenton Koch, who is now fully focused on his WeatherTech Championship GTD duties in the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

***This week’s announcement of Leigh Diffey joining NBC’s NASCAR broadcast team as its new lead play-by-play announcer is believed to provide the option for the U.S.-based Australian to possibly still have a presence on NBC’s IMSA broadcasts for the first half of the season next year when NASCAR is not on the network.

***NBC has yet to detail its 2025 TV talent lineup for the WeatherTech Championship, amid some expected changes due to the network no longer carrying the NTT IndyCar Series next year.

***Brian Till and Calvin Fish will be in the NBC Sports booth for Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge, with Matt Yocum reporting on pit lane. Live coverage begins 12 p.m. EDT on USA Network and Peacock, while the IMSA Radio team of John Hindhaugh, Jeremy Shaw and Shea Adam will have their usual coverage across multiple platforms, including on IMSA’s YouTube channel for international viewers.

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