Baptista, Soulet Win Race 2; K-PAX Sweeps VIR

Photo: K-PAX Racing

K-PAX Racing has claimed a sweep of the Blancpain GT World Challenge America weekend at Virginia International Raceway, with Rodrigo Baptista and Maxime Soulet picking up the win in Race 2.

Baptista took his No. 3 Bentley Continental GT3 to a 10.104-second victory in Sunday afternoon’s 90-minute contest, following their teammates Alvaro Parente and Andy Soucek’s win on Saturday.

The Brazilian assumed the lead following the mid-race pit stops, which saw the Bentley leap ahead of the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 of Miguel Molina and Patrick Long’s No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R that paced the early stages with Scott Hargrove.

A left-rear tire issue for Molina, who pitted with 22 minutes to go from second, essentially sealed the race for the K-PAX duo.

Long and Hargrove came home second, with the No. 24 Alegra Motorsports Porsche of Wolf Henzler and Marco Holzer completing the overall and GT3 Pro podium in third.

Henzler got around the GT3 Pro-Am class No. 43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Bret Curtis, who was running in third overall but faded in the closing stages of the caution-free race.

A last-lap pass on the No. 22 Alegra Porsche of Daniel Morad saw Molina cross the line in fourth but later handed a five-second post-race time penalty for causing a collision with Morad.

It dropped Molina and co-driver Toni Vilander to fifth, behind Morad and Michael de Quesada, who were promoted to fourth.

The Race 1-winning No. 9 K-PAX Bentley, which ran as high as second early on, suffered a left-rear puncture in the hands of Soucek, followed by a refueling fire that ended in the car’s retirement.

Nobody was injured in the blaze, which was caused by a fuel probe issue.

Curtis, Cameron Give RealTime Acura Pro-Am Victory

RealTime Racing secured GT3 Pro-Am class honors in its Blancpain GT America return weekend, following a flawless drive by Curtis and co-driver Dane Cameron.

Curtis finished nearly 20 seconds clear of the No. 04 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of George Kurtz following a storming opening stint by Cameron that saw the Acura DPi star run second overall.

The No. 91 Wright Porsche of Anthony Imperato and Matt Campbell completed the class podium in third, rebounding from a retirement in Race 1.

A pitstop issue for the Race 1 class-winning Racers Edge Motorsports Acura saw Kyle Marcelli and Martin Barkey finish sixth in class.

GT3 Am class honors, meanwhile, again went to the No. 7 Squadra Corse Ferrari of Martin Fuentes and Caesar Bacarella, which finished 11th overall.

RESULTS: Race 2

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