VIR Friday Notebook

Photo: Jonathan Grace

***Two drivers and and a corner worker appear to have escaped serious injuries following a massive accident in the second McLaren Trophy America practice session of the weekend, which involved GMG Racing’s John Capestro-Dubets and the Flying Lizard Motorsports entry of George Lawrence that resulted in more than a two-hour stoppage at Virginia International Raceway due to barrier and a corner worker station repair.

***A statement from SRO America read: “During Practice 2 of McLaren Trophy America at Virginia International Raceway, the drivers of the No. 3 and No. 4 had a collision. The drivers and corner worker were transported to the medical center for further evaluation. All were awake and alert at the scene. The driver of the No. 4 and corner worker were seen by on-site medical. The driver of the No. 4 was transported to the hospital for precautionary monitoring.”

***A Flying Lizard spokesperson confirmed that Lawrence is “conscious and in good spirits” while a GMG Racing spokesperson told Sportscar365 that Capestro-Dubets was “relaxing and cooling off” in Kyle Washington’s motorhome on Friday afternoon. Both cars are believed to be damaged beyond immediate repair for this weekend’s pair of races.

***The lengthy stoppage resulted in an initially condensed schedule that saw a shortened second practice session for Toyota GR Cup North America, before severe weather in the area halted GT World Challenge America powered by AWS practice with just ten minutes completed. The second Pirelli GT4 America practice, meanwhile, was canceled altogether.

***On Friday afternoon, JMF Motorsports driver Jonathan Neudorf gave the Toyota GR Corolla TC its first-ever TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School win since the car’s introduction at the beginning of the season. Neudorf drove to a 0.522-second victory over the No. 74 Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO of Andre Castro, which finished second.

***AF Corse delivered a fresh Ferrari 296 GT3 chassis overnight after a significant accident for Christian Hahn on Thursday, which saw the front end and right side of the car heavily damaged. While crew members initially appeared to begin repair work on the No. 16 entry, the team elected to truck in a new car from Charlotte in the evening hours and to complete a more thorough investigation on the crashed car after the VIR weekend.

***After an on-track stoppage that brought out a red flag in Practice 1, Regulator Racing replaced the gearbox in Jeff Burton and Philip Ellis’s No. 91 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo ahead of second practice.

***Both Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVOs driven by Justin Rothberg are again carrying 26 kg of additional weight due to Rothberg’s Bronze* driver rating derogation. Rothberg had the same weight penalty in the last event at Circuit of The Americas for both GTWC America and GT America competition.

***Todd Coleman revealed that he and co-driver Aaron Telitz were struggling with seat fitment in the opening two GTWC America rounds at Sonoma Raceway and COTA, before getting a new seat made for their Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo in the build-up to Sebring International Raceway.

***Coleman told Sportscar365: “I literally was falling out. I couldn’t figure out because we’ve obviously run a McLaren in Europe, in the Middle East and it didn’t have that issue. Fundamentally, we tried a bunch of different seat options and then bought a new seat.”

***With Ryan Yardley joining ACI Motorsports this weekend, it means the U.S.-based Kiwi and Riley Dickinson are working as teammates this weekend. The drivers sit first and second in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America points standings, driving for rival teams in the highly competitive single-make championship.

***Yardley told Sportscar365: “It’s kinda funny how that’s worked out. On the Carrera Cup side, we’re battling for a championship, being first and second in the championship standings right now. It’s interesting being teammates this weekend. I always get along with Riley in the paddock, even in Carrera Cup. There’s no drama from that side of things.”

***Heart of Racing Team drivers Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier are coming off a second place finish in the 25 Hours of Spa Fun Cup race held at Spa-Francorchamps earlier this month. As has been the case in recent years, invited guests of the Ian James-led team rotated through the passenger seat of the car during the around-the-clock enduro.

***Michael Cooper will focus exclusively on his GT4 America commitments this weekend with Blackdog Racing, with Jason Bell, whom he co-drove with in GTWC America, has returned to the single-driver GT America action in his Racers Edge Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

***Cooper is a four-time winner at VIR, with three coming in Blackdog machinery in 2019 and two in 2020, as well as a GTWC Pro-Am class win in 2021. He and Blackdog team owner/driver Tony Gaples currently sit third in the Pro-Am points standings entering the weekend.

***Cooper said: “The VIR event is an important one for the championship. It’s such a fun track to race when your car is right, so the team is very focused on having the setup dialed in just right so we can fine-tune things right out of the box. I love this place and have had a lot of success there. Two more good races will go a long way toward us staying in championship contention.”

***Porsche took over the lead of the global GT World Challenge manufacturers’ standings following the most recent stretch of events on three continents and included the only triple-header of the season. Mercedes-AMG and BMW began the run tied on points but now sit eight and 33 points behind Porsche, respectively.

***In addition to GTWC America action this weekend, GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup is at Misano. A total of 16 of 30 global rounds are now complete on the GTWC calendar, which comprises of the Europe, America, Asia and Australia championships, as well as the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour.

***SRO America plans to finalize its 2026 schedule during next month’s event at Road America according to series president and CEO Greg Gill. Two TBAs were published on the initial schedule that was released during last month’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Unlike previous years, there will be no ‘State of the Series’ address at Road America.

***Coverage of this weekend’s race action will be available on SRO’s GT World YouTube Channel, on Twitch, as well as SRO America’s new multi-view streaming experience powered by Vbrick and GPX Stream. Both GTWC America races will also be available live on RACER Network. The SRO America broadcast team of Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish will again be in the booth, with Amanda Busick on pit lane.

Jonathan Grace contributed to this report

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