Woolridge Wins COTA Race 1 After Leaders Run Out of Fuel

In a shocking finish to the 45-minute IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race at Circuit of The Americas on Saturday morning, Canadian Jonathan Woolridge collected his second career victory in the series as the cars running first and second ran out of fuel coming to the white flag.

Driving the No. 54 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan, Woolridge trailed race-leading teammates Oscar Tunjo in the No. 31 Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports Duqueine D08 Nissan and Valentino Catalano in the No. 30 Gebhardt Duqueine by more than a minute on the second-to-last lap.

Tunjo, who started the race from the pole position, led most of the race until Catalano took over out front with just over six minutes remaining.

The two ran nose-to-tail before Tunjo briefly claimed the lead from Catalano with 1:40 left on the clock. Seconds later, both cars ran out of fuel and slowed to a stop on course.

That opened the door for Woolridge to eventually take the white flag as the new leader, and 2.4 miles later, he claimed the victory, his first since winning at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2023.

While other cars also slowed to a stop on course on the final lap, Woolridge reported no fuel concerns in his No. 54 Ligier.

Brian Thienes finished second in the P3 class and won the Bronze Cup race in the No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier. Mirco Schultis rounded out the P3 podium with a third-place run in the No. 70 Mishumotors Ligier.

After dominating the first 44 minutes of the 45-minute race, Catalano – who entered the race as the P3 points leader by virtue of his double victory at Daytona – and Tunjo were relegated to fifth and sixth in the final P3 race standings.

Catalano still leads the championship by 60 points, 960-900, over Woolridge, who vaulted from fourth to second in the season standings with the victory.

Walker Earns First GTDX Victory in Turner BMW at COTA

Jake Walker started the No. 6 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 on the GTDX pole position but he found himself immediately under attack at the drop of the green flag by points leader Adam Adelson in the No. 24 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

In fact, Adelson claimed the lead at the conclusion of the first racing lap and the battle was on between Adelson and Walker for the first 10 to 15 minutes of the race.

The decisive moment in the race came when Adelson spun on his own entering the esses approximately 12 minutes into the race. Walker, who was right on Adelson’s tail but avoided contact, quickly took evasive action and sailed off into the GTDX lead.

He was never challenged the rest of the way, pulling away to win by 15.407 seconds over AJ Muss in the No. 66 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3. In fact, Walker nearly claimed the overall race victory, crossing the stripe just 0.429 seconds behind Woolridge.

It was Walker’s first career VP Racing SportsCar Challenge victory.

Adelson recovered from the spin to finish third and retain the GTDX points lead. After three of 12 races, he holds a 60-point advantage, 1,000-940, over Muss.

Samantha Tan finished fifth in GTDX and won the Bronze Cup in the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3.

Beat Goes on for Porto Who Wins Third Straight in No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota

Kiko Porto has proven to be impossible to beat in the early stages of the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge GSX season.

The Brazilian started from the pole position and won both races in January’s season-opening weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

It’s been more of the same so far at COTA, where Porto again qualified on the pole position and quickly showed his competitors a clean pair of heels en route to his third consecutive victory in the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.

Porto finished a full lap ahead of Steven Clemons, who finished second in GSX aboard the No. 76 BSI Racing Toyota. Ian Porter made it a top-three sweep for Toyota in GSX with a third-place run in the No. 68 RAFA Racing Supra. Porter also won the Bronze Cup in GSX Race 1.

The victory kept Porto perfect in the GSX point standings and stretched his advantage to 230 points, 1,050-820, over Patrick Wilmot (No. 12 Swish Racing BMW M4 GT4) and Justin Di Benedetto (No. 4 Di Benedetto Racing Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS), who finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will take to the 2.4-mile COTA circuit again this afternoon for its second race after a full day of NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series activity.

Race 2 is scheduled to take the green flag at 5 p.m. CT and again will be streamed live in the U.S. on Peacock and internationally on IMSA’s official YouTube Channel.

RESULTS: Race 1