Championship Battle Heating Up Entering VIR Weekend

Photo: Fred Hardy/SRO

The battle for the SRO3 class championship is heating up, with a three-way fight in the resumption of GT America powered by AWS action this weekend at Virginia International Raceway.

While Jason Daskalos continues to the lead the title race in his No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, a double podium finish, including victory in Race 2 in the most recent round at Circuit of The Americas for George Kurtz, has closed the gap to 24 points from first to third in the standings.

SKI Autosports’ Johnny O’Connell sits second in his Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, trailing Daskalos by 15 points ahead of the ninth and tenth rounds of the season this weekend.

While Daskalos holds a season-high four wins, Kurtz, who is fresh off Pro-Am class victory in last month’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, has momentum on his side, having won three of the last four GT America races, while having podiumed in the other.

A total of 18 cars are entered for VIR, headlined by 11 in the GT3-based SRO3 class.

It includes the expected debut of MMG’s Porsche 911 GT3 R for Jean-Frederic Laberge, which had been on the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS entry lists earlier this year but had been a no-show.

Additionally, Elias Sabo is back in his Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo after taking part in the category during the season-opening Sonoma weekend.

CJ Moses will take his GMG Racing-entered Audi R8 LMS GT2 back out for his home race this weekend, as the only GT2 car entered in the category.

GT4, meanwhile, sees six entries, led by Rotek Racing’s Issac Sherman, who has taken class wins in seven of the eight races to date.

ACI Motorsports’ Curt Swearingin broke through for his first GT America win last time out in Race 2 at COTA, although trails the fellow driver of a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport by 63 points.

Of note, Pirelli GT4 America competitor Damir Hot will make his series debut in the No. 05 Flying Lizard Nissan Z GT4 NISMO.

Track action kicks off on Thursday with a pair of test sessions, followed by practice on Friday. Saturday’s activities will include qualifying and Race 1, which is set for 1 p.m. EDT, and Race 2 on Sunday at 8:45 a.m.

Both 40-minute races will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and also on Twitch.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John