Goulart Charges to First GR Cup Win at VIR

Ethan Goulart charged through the Toyota GR Cup North America field and fended off strong pressure to secure his first series victory in the opening race of the weekend at Virginia International Raceway on Saturday.

The TechSport driver, who started ninth on the grid, worked his way up the order in the opening half of the race aboard his No. 72 Toyota GR86 Cup car, holding second position and setting his sights on Jaxon Bell’s then lead.

With 20 minutes to go, Goulart willed Bell’s mirrors, eventually forcing a mistake from the Copeland driver, who went off track, handing control of the race to the eventual race-winner.

Despite initially opening up a gap, Goulart came under heavy pressure from Weisenberg and BSI Racing’s Westin Workman behind in the closing stages, with Bell reeling in the leading trio after regaining the ground he lost earlier in the race.

Despite multiple attacks from the Lucas Racing driver, Goulart hung on, with just 0.205 seconds clear of Weisenberg behind.

Workman rounded out the podium places after holding a late push from Bell, who rejoined the leading pack in the closing stages to finish fourth overall.

Spike Kohlbecker was fifth for RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate, with Copeland’s Ford Koch in sixth and Nitro Motorsports’ Jackson Tovo behind in seventh.

Kohlbecker, Weisenberg, and Bell all spent time at the head of the field in the opening half of the race, which was interrupted by a full-course caution to recover the No. 89 GR86 of Livio Galanti.

After being spun early in the race by the No. 98 TechSport GR86 of Max Schweid, Will Robusto rebounded to an eighth-place finish for RVA.

ARCA Menards Series driver and Will’s sister, Isabella Robusto finished an impressive ninth in the No. 111 Toyota in just her second career GR Cup event after pulling double duty this weekend, with Saturday’s top-ten result following a top-three run at Dover Motor Speedway on Friday evening.

Brett Kowalski suffered heavy front-end damage to his No. 15 TechSport Toyota in the opening stages, taking to pit lane for repairs as the field fell under caution.

Paityn Feyen also survived a brush with the Turn 12 barriers and continued on in her No. 80 Nitro Motorsports entry.

A final lap incident saw the No. 93 Eagles Canyon GR86 of Patrick Brunson in the tire barriers after being tagged by Massimo Sunseri. The incident will be reviewed by race control post-race.

Qualifying for Race 2 gets underway Sunday at 8:40 a.m. EST ahead of the second race of the weekend in the afternoon.

RESULTS: Race 1