Catalano Leads Way Again in Saturday VIR Race

IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge competitors turned in their second caution-free 45-minute race of the three-race weekend at Virginia International Raceway.

Two of Friday’s first race winners followed up with their second wins of the weekend, while the third class winner re-emerged on top after missing out on Friday.

Valentino Catalano (LMP3), Jake Walker (GTDX) and Kiko Porto (GSX) all claimed their sixth wins of their seasons in their respective classes.

Catalano’s P3 drive in his No. 30 Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports Duqueine D08 Nissan was nearly a mirror image of Friday.

The Italian driver led flag-to-flag from pole in a 1-2 finish for the Gebhardt team, again ahead of Alexzander Kristiansson.

Kristiansson pushed Catalano early in the race and came within a few tenths, but a brief off at Turn 11 halted his charge. Catalano ultimately leapt out to the win by 42.439 seconds.

Walker’s drive in GTDX also matched his Friday effort. Wheeling the No. 6 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, Walker reprised his Friday move of a pass on a P3 car through the climbing esses to get a quick and early jump on his competition.

He controlled the pace from there to match his car number with his sixth win of 2025 and continue closing on championship leader Adam Adelson, who again finished second in the No. 24 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, 4.879 seconds in arrears.

The Toyota battle atop GSX this time went Porto’s way after a dynamic battle he’d had with Steven Clemons on Friday.

From pole, Porto led flag-to-flag in the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2, but not without Clemons again shading him for a majority of the race aboard the No. 76 BSI Racing Toyota.

Porto extended the gap to a winning margin of 2.299 seconds, noting his RAFA Racing team fixed most of whatever he thought ailed him on Friday.

Brian Thienes (No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan) and Ian Porter (No. 68 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2) repeated their Friday Bronze Cup wins on Saturday while Vin Barletta secured the Bronze Cup win in GTDX in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.

As on Friday, each of the Bronze Cup winners finished third in their respective classes.

VP Racing Challenge competitors who were set to race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s second race are eligible to race in the third race of the VIR weekend on Sunday.

The CTMP Race 2 Makeup goes green at 9:30 a.m. EST Sunday, with coverage via Peacock, IMSA.TV and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Race 2