Parente, Soucek Dominate Race 1 at VIR

Photo: Gavin Baker/SRO

Alvaro Parente and Andy Soucek gave K-PAX Racing a dominant win in the first Blancpain GT World Challenge America race of the weekend at Virginia International Raceway.

Bentley factory driver Andy Soucek survived a late-race full-course caution and restart to take a 3.246-second win over the No. 24 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Marco Holzer for his first win of the season.

It came after a commanding run in the 90-minute race for the No. 9 Bentley Continental GT3, which started from pole in the hands of Parente, who enjoyed a comfortable lead over the No. 58 Wright Porsche of Patrick Long.

An accident for the No. 3 K-PAX Bentley of Rodrigo Baptista on Lap 13 saw the team’s hopes of a double podium finish fade.

Baptista’s incident resulted in one of two cautions, the second coming with 12 minutes to go for an off by Scott Hargrove in the second-placed Wright Porsche.

It resulted in a four-minute shootout to the finish.

Holzer and co-driver Wolf Henlzer picked up a season-best second, with the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 of Toni Vilander sneaking past Kyle Marcelli for third overall on the final lap.

Vilander, whose car lost nearly ten seconds on the mid-race pit stop, dropped to fourth on the final restart to the No. 80 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Marcelli, although the Finn managed to retake the position.

Marcelli, Barkey Win GT3 Pro-Am in Another Acura 1-2

Marcelli and co-driver Martin Barkey picked up their second consecutive class win in Pro-Am, finishing ahead of the No. 5 Graident Racing Acura of Ryan Eversley and Till Bechtolsheimer.

Barkey overcame an incident with the No. 43 RealTime Racing Acura of Bret Curtis on Lap 10, while fighting for second in class at the time.

Matt Plumb and Alfred Caiola completed the Pro-Am class podium in the No. 99 One11 Competition Ferrari.

The No. 63 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Ryan Dalziel and David Askew came home fourth in class after the sister No. 04 entry of Colin Braun had an off-course excursion on the final lap.

Curtis, who was handed a drive-through penalty for the incident, settled for fifth in his class debut alongside co-driver Dane Cameron.

GT3 Am class honors, meanwhile, went to the No. 07 Squadra Corse Garage Italia Ferrari of Martin Fuentes and Cesar Bacarella, which finished ninth overall.

Race 2 for Blancpain GT America is set for 1:15 p.m. EDT on Sunday, with live coverage on CBSSN.

RESULTS: Race 1

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