VP Challenge Adds to IMSA’s Eclectic COTA History

The land of barbecue and live music adds another flavor of activity during Circuit of The Americas’s first major race weekend of its 2025 season. The NASCAR Cup Series shifts its weekend racing from the full 3.4-mile, 20-turn road course to the shorter 2.3-mile, 20-turn National course for the first time.

That affects other series making waves at the track this weekend, including IMSA’s VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.

Ahead of its second weekend, 25 cars in three classes – LMP3, GTDX and GSX – will take to the shorter course for a pair of 45-minute races on Saturday.

It marks the first time this IMSA series has visited COTA since 2013, when the formerly named Prototype Lites championship ran a pair of races. However, several other IMSA championships have recently been to Austin.

Last year, the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Mustang Challenge raced at COTA as part of the FIA’s World Endurance Championship weekend.

Porsche Carrera Cup North America also visited COTA as part of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix weekend. The WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge have not been to COTA since 2017.

That adds up to an intriguing mix of drivers who have raced at COTA, but usually on the full course, in different series, and possibly in the same type of car but not necessarily the same tire or regulatory specification.

Three drivers entered this weekend have recent IMSA at COTA experience in last year’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo races: Jake Walker, A.J. Muss and Kiko Porto all ran Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 cars. Muss had the best results of the quintet, with a pair of podiums in the Pro-Am class.

Adam Adelson, Samantha Tan and Kyle Washington are among those have also raced at COTA in other sports car championships. Tan swept her Pro-Am GT3 class races in 2024 at the circuit, co-driving with Neil Verhagen in a BMW M4 GT3.

Adelson is one of three drivers who swept the season-opening 45-minute races at Daytona in January.

Driving the No. 24 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, he took home both GTDX wins and spearheads a ten-car GTDX class in COTA. The same nine drivers entered at Daytona make the trip to Austin, joined by new addition Marc Austin, a local driver from Buda, Texas (No. 11 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo).

Overall and in P3, Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports dominated the Daytona weekend with Valentino Catalano winning both races in his No. 30 Duqueine D08 Nissan. Gebhardt’s pair of Catalano and Markus Pommer seek to extend their streak against Jonathan Woolridge, who races with championship-winning outfit MLT Motorsports, and three Bronze-rated drivers.

Porto’s track experience also may benefit him in the nine-car GSX class. Driving RAFA Racing’s Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2, Porto won both GSX races in Daytona with a combination of passing, pace and patience as he took a last lap win in race one and then extended a gap to offset a penalty in race two.

Bronze Cup winners at Daytona included Mirco Schultis and Brian Thienes in P3, Washington and Dave Musial in GTDX and Rob Walker and Ian Porter in GSX, with all except Walker back this weekend looking to add to their spoils.

The two races take place on the same day, which adds to the eclectic nature of the weekend. Drivers and teams have two 40-minute practice sessions on Friday at noon and 2 p.m. CT and local time, before qualifying Friday night at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Saturday’s first race goes green at 8:40 a.m. CT, and the second caps off the day at 5:00 p.m. CT. Races stream on Peacock in the U.S. and IMSA’s YouTube chnnael outside the U.S.