Series Back in Action at Mid-Ohio After Three Month Break

After more than a three-month break, the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge returns to action at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

As the track’s name implies, it’s a venue that suits sports cars well and pushes drivers to maximize their car’s handling and balance in action.

Mid-Ohio underwent a track repave prior to its 2024 racing season, which increased grip levels and reduced lap times to record-setting marks. The series has an extensive history at Mid-Ohio.

Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports came within two minutes of a sweep of all four LMP3 races so far, but for a perhaps fluke fueling issue at the first of two rounds at Circuit of The Americas in March. Running 1-2, Valentino Catalano (No. 30 Duqueine D08 Nissan) and Oscar Tunjo (No. 31 Duqueine) ran out of fuel at nearly the same point on the track at the same time, which opened the door for Jonathan Woolridge (No. 54 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan) to take a fortuitous but well-judged first win of the year.

Catalano leads Woolridge by 110 points, 1,310-1,200, heading into the Mid-Ohio double. Tunjo continues in the No. 31 car, while Woolridge and MLT Motorsports are absent this race.

On the strength of three straight Bronze Cup wins, Forte Racing’s Brian Thienes in the No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier leads those standings by 170 points over RAFA Racing’s Matthew Dicken in the No. 36 Ligier. A Duqueine chassis swept the Mid-Ohio weekend last year with Jagger Jones.

The GTDX class took center stage at COTA with distinct, close and intense battles, most notably for the lead in Round 3 between Jake Walker (No. 6 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3) and Adam Adelson (No. 24 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R).

Adelson swept the Daytona weekend but incurred the GTDX class’ additional success ballast weight in COTA; he’ll have that removed this weekend while Walker, the COTA double winner, will take it on.

That may open the door for points leader AJ Muss (No. 66 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3) to score his first wins of the season. The Olympic snowboarder-turned-racer is the only driver to score four overall GTDX podiums in the first four races, and that consistency puts him 10 points ahead of Adelson (1,260-1,250) heading into the weekend.

Adelson, however, is keen to deliver a home race win or two for his Batavia, Ohio-based Wright Motorsports team, whose shop is roughly a few hours south of the track near Cincinnati.

Samantha Tan (No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3) leads the GTDX Bronze Cup on the heels of a COTA weekend sweep and seeks her first overall GTDX podium or more this weekend.

Vin Barletta (No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3) and series newcomer Rodin Younessi (No. 50 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3) complete the class entry.

GSX has seen the RAFA Racing team sweep all four races. But a late-race mechanical in the last race spoiled Kiko Porto’s (No. 8 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2) pursuit of going for all four himself.

Teammate Ian Porter (No. 68 Toyota) took the most recent win in COTA to propel himself to second in GSX points, 150 behind Porto (1,270-1,120) but 50 clear of his closest Bronze Cup competitor (Angus Rogers, No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS).

A pair of podiums in COTA propelled Steven Clemons (No. 76 BSI Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2) from 13th to fifth.

VP Racing Challenge competitors have a pair of practice sessions Friday, qualify on Saturday morning and race Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. EST and Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. EST Races stream on Peacock domestically and IMSA.tv and the IMSA YouTube channel internationally.