Bijoy Garg picked the perfect time to put together the perfect weekend in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.
The 21-year-old Californian won the multi-class sprint series’ second race of the day Saturday afternoon to finish off an impressive sweep that included sitting on the pole position for both 45-minute competitions. The twin victories unofficially propelled Garg back into the LMP3 class championship points lead by ten points with two rounds and four races remaining.
Piloting the No. 3 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan, Garg led every lap in both races. His margin of victory in Saturday’s finale was 4.021 seconds over Dan Goldburg, the driver of the No. 73 JDC MotorSports Duqueine D08 Nissan and the LMP3 points leader heading into the weekend.
Courtney Crone (No. 99 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine) made a daring pass on Dennis Dupont (No. 18 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine) with 20 minutes to go to take third place and held on by less than a half-second at the finish line to secure her third podium finish of the season.
John Capestro Dubets, competing in the GSX class for GT4-specification cars, raced to his own weekend sweep in the No. 26 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4.
Like Garg in LMP3, Capestro Dubets started from the class pole both times Saturday and led every race lap for the team based in nearby New Milford, Conn.
The 2022 co-champion in the Pro-Am class of Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, Capestro Dubets was elated with the results from his VP Racing Challenge debut.
Dubets’ teammate Jake Walker finished second for the second time Saturday in the No. 24 BMW. Auto Technic Racing took five of the six podium spots in the two races, with Dubets citing “perfect execution from everybody involved” to make it happen.
Francis Selldorff finished third in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW. Coupled with his fourth-place showing in the morning race, Selldorff took control of the GSX standings, unofficially 90 points ahead of Sebastian Carazo in the No. 27 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport.
RESULTS: Race 2