Metni Scores Overall Win in VIR Race 2

Fifty-three-year-old Alan Metni scored overall victory in Sunday’s Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama race at Virginia International Raceway.

The Platinum Masters class driver started from the pole position for the first time in his career after recording the fastest lap in Race 1.

He faced 45 minutes of pressure from a variety of younger drivers and only pulled a gap when they battled amongst each other.

However, a final caution and restart with only a handful of laps remaining meant Metni had to fight even harder.

His teammate Jeff Kingsley in the No. 16 Porsche pulled alongside coming to the green flag and the two battled door-to-door for a few turns before Metni got the advantage. He went on to win by just 0.547 seconds.

“It’s fitting that it happens there, this is the first place I ever podiumed three-and-a-half years ago in [the] Gold [Cup class, for previous-generation cars]. I’m really happy to have it happen here,” Metni said.

“I just had to keep my head down and racing my race and driving as close to the perfect lap as I could come up with.

“Fortunately, when they tangled with each other, they slowed each other down a little bit, gave me a little room to breathe.

“The guys at Kelly-Moss gave me a great car. The race is won in the training and this is the hardest working team in motorsports today.”

Kingsley, who finished first in Saturday’s race, extended his lead in the point standings by seven, 134-127, over Metni and nine points over Riley Dickinson in the No. 53 Moorespeed Porsche.

Dickinson started second on Sunday behind Metni but a spin early in the race sent him down the ranks. The Texan fought back for a third-place finish.

Curt Swearingin took home a trio of trophies over the course of the weekend in the Gold Cup class.

Swearingin swept the class’ two victories in the No. 17 ACI Motorsports Porsche and earned the Yokohama Hard Charger Award on Sunday as the Gold Cup competitor who gained the most positions throughout the race.

It capped a challenging but rewarding weekend for the ACI team. After a testing incident on Monday, the team had to prepare the backup car in two days’ time in its Tennessee shop in order for Swearingin to race at VIR.

RESULTS: Race 2