Workman Wins Sunday VIR Thriller

Westin Workman won his third race of the season in the second round of the Toyota GR Cup North America weekend at Virginia International Raceway after a time penalty for Will Robusto in a thrilling conclusion to Sunday’s race.

The BSI racing driver has now won three of the last four GR Cup rounds, taking a 0.173-second victory in his No. 13 Toyota GR86 Cup Car over Race 1 winner Ethan Goulart despite crossing the finish line second on the road behind the penalized Robusto.

Workman started the race in fourth and remained amongst the fight for the lead throughout the 45-minute contest.

Roughly halfway through the race, a four-car battle for the win emerged after drama for early leaders Jaxon Bell and Spike Kohlbecker, who swapped the lead before both drivers went off track at South Bend and slotted back in the second half of the top ten.

While Bell began a comeback charge from sixth, Kohlbecker took to pit lane to have grass removed from the front grill of his No. 55 GR86 Cup car. The incident will be reviewed by race control post-session.

The melee amongst the leaders allowed Goulart to take the lead with pressure from Workman, Robusto, and eventually Bell behind.

Workman made a late lunge under braking with less than 15 minutes remaining to his No. 13 Toyota, overtaking the TechSport machine of Goulart, who was then passed by a charging Robusto.

While the RVA driver would eventually make the pass for the lead, he was handed a five-second time penalty for separate contact with Bell while battling at the front of the field, dropping him to seventh at the checkered flag.

With Workman and Goulart claiming the top two positions, Jaxon Bell rebounded to secure a podium finish for Copeland Motorsports.

TechSport’s Christian Weir came home fourth, with Lucas Weisenberg rounding out the overall top five.

ARCA Menards Series driver Isabella Robusto finished one position behind her brother in eighth to claim her second top-ten result of her double-header weekend.

Max Stallone finished ninth for PT Autosport with Copeland, while Beltre Curtis completed the top ten.

On the opening lap, Ford Koch sustained heavy front-end damage on his No. 21 Copeland machine, with Jackson Tovo also ending up in the grass with damage to the rear of his No. 31 Nitro Motorsports machine.

Both cars retired. The Lap 1 incident did not impact running, however, with the race remaining green, despite a brief flag for debris being flown at Turn 3.

An on-track incident in the opening stages between Paityn Feyen and Stallone came under the eye of race control, with the announcement made that the scenario would be examined post-race.

RESULTS: Race 2