VIR CTSC Pre-Race Notebook

***The Ford Mustang Boss 302R pressed into action by Multimatic Motorsports will be No. 51, rather than No. 15, as it’s a new car to replace the Ford Shelby GT350R-C. The car arrived at Virginia International Raceway following a 14-hour drive from the Multimatic headquarters in Toronto.

***A couple cars in ST have had pre-VIR Balance of Performance adjustments. The Audi S3 can have a bigger tire, relocate a battery between the rear strut towers and replace its current hood with a lightweight carbon hood. The battery and hood adjustments will be put on for Circuit of the Americas and Road Atlanta, per the team. Meanwhile both the BMW 128i and BMW 328i (E90) have their air restrictors removed.

***Jim McGuire had a heavy accident in testing at Turn 16 on Thursday in the No. 74 Compass360 Racing Audi S3. The car was repaired off site in Raleigh and returned to the track late Friday, still with hopes of making the grid on Saturday.

***Cameron Lawrence makes a one-race return back to the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, for his first start since Daytona. Lawrence will step into the No. 93 HART Honda Civic Si, replacing Ryan Eversley, who is on World Challenge assignment at Miller Motorsports Park. Lawrence co-drives with Chad Gilsinger.

***Burton Racing is absent from VIR this weekend, with a testing program scheduled between now and the next round at Circuit of the Americas in September. The team has also recent moved into a new home base in John Force Racing’s motorsports campus in Brownsburg, Ind.

***Al Carter fills in for Rob Ecklin Jr. alongside Brett Sandberg in the No. 99 Automatic Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 this weekend. Carter and Sandberg raced the full 2014 season with Rebel Rock Racing in a GS class Porsche 911 and scored a podium, third place, at Kansas.

***LAP Motorsports makes a last minute driver change with Tyler Stone filling in for Dan Clarke alongside Ramin Abdolvahabi in the No. 52 MINI JCW. Neither MINI set a time in qualifying though with Zack Meyer going off course in the sister No. 37 car.

***Freedom Autosport’s Tom Long will have his second at-least double duty weekend of the year. Long, who will start the No. 26 Mazda MX-5 and finish the team’s No. 25 car, also pulled a triple duty weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, when he raced the Mazda Prototype, No. 25 Mazda MX-5 and tested the new global 2016 MX-5 Cup car.

***Stevenson Motorsports, based in Jacksonville, N.C., seeks a home race win, after the No. 6 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R came up just short last year. Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell drove from 21st to second a year ago, and enter today’s race with a 15-point lead in GS over Rum Bum Racing’s pair of Hugh and Matt Plumb.

***Nic Hammann will have a busy few weeks coming up. The Elkhart Lake, Wis. native races this weekend in Doran Racing’s No. 41 Nissan 370Z, then starts college at UNC Charlotte next week, before World Challenge races at Sonoma and Monterey in two of the next three weekends after that.

***Paul Holton is also busy for Compass360 Racing. He’s already had two tests of the team’s new Audi TT-RS, and will have an upcoming test in the team’s Audi R8 LMS GTD car before the next IMSA weekend at COTA.

***Mantella Autosport team principal Anthony Mantella expects to bring back the team’s No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R for he and Mark Wilkins next round at Circuit of the Americas, after sitting out at Road America and VIR.

***Corey Lewis and Dylan Murcott will be running three races today, adding two Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America races to the Continental Tire Challenge race. Murcott will start third, Lewis 22nd for today’s race.

***Watch today’s eighth round of the Continental Tire Challenge season at 1:25 p.m. ET, live on IMSA.com, with radio commentary available via IMSA Radio.