VIR Thursday Notebook

Photo: Jonathan Grace

***SRO America action at Virginia International Raceway kicked off on Thursday with testing sessions for GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, GT America powered by AWS, Pirelli GT4 America, as well the SRO-run single-make series Toyota GR Cup North America and practice for TC America powered by AWS.

***Track activity was halted twice due to thunderstorms and heavy rain, with TC America qualifying having been abandoned and the Paid Bronze Test and opening GT America practice session starting later than originally scheduled. The McLaren Trophy test session, meanwhile, was canceled.

***The second test session of the day for GTWC America competitors and GT2 and SRO3 class GT America entrants ended prematurely after a significant crash for the No. 16 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Christian Hahn in Sector 3. Christian emerged from the car under his own power, and team representatives told Sportscar365 that the Brazilian driver was uninjured in the accident, which resulted in heavy damage to the front end and right-hand side of the AF Corse machine.

***89x Motorsports has fielded a second Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in GT America this weekend for John Dean, in a last-minute addition amid the withdrawal of JTR Motorsports Engineering’s Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2s that was due to feature Anthony McIntosh. Dean was originally on the GR Cup entry list in a Copeland Motorsports Toyota GR86 Cup car. The addition has ensured there’s two cars in the GT4 class this weekend, alongside 89x teammate Michael Fitzpatrick.

***Dean, like Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg, are racing as derogated Bronze* drivers this weekend. The extent of the expected weight addition for Rothberg’s entries have not yet been disclosed.

***Fitzpatrick and Dean, meanwhile, will share an Aston in GT4 America competition in the Pro-Am class, as a late addition to the field, which now features 27 cars. The No. 10 OGH Motorsports McLaren Artura GT4 of Sam Owen and Sean Gibbons, as well as the Nate Cicero and Stuart McAleer-driven BMW M4 GT4 and JTR Toyota of McIntosh and Parker Thompson, have dropped off the entry list.

***Dome Motorsport, however, has drafted Cicero into their No. 37 Mercedes-AMG GT4 to drive alongside Marc Miller in the team’s GT4 America Pro-Am entry due to a knee injury for team owner Eddie Killeen. Cicero’s Silver driver rating allows the car to jump from Pro-Am up to the Silver class for this weekend’s pair of races.

***Cicero is coming off pole in last weekend’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. “Following an evaluation with my physician, we determined that it would be best for me to sit this one out in order to avoid taking any risks,” said Killeen. “So that’s where we’re at. We have been talking to Nate Cicero, who is a great young driver, and we had him out with us for testing last week. He knows the track very well, as well as the Mercedes-AMG platform.

***The No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Elias Sabo and Andy Lee has been withdrawn from the remainder of the GTWC America season, after not starting the second race at Circuit of The Americas and missing the entire event at Sebring International Raceway. Team principal Darren Law told Sportscar365 that Sabo’s two BMW chassis and all related spares are currently up for sale, with no exact timeline established for Sabo’s potential racing return as he currently focuses on business matters.

***Sabo, the CEO of Compass Diversified Holdings, recently disclosed an ongoing internal probe into subsidiary company Lugano Diamonds, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based jewelry retailer with eight U.S. stores and an outlet in London. Lugano CEO Moti Ferder has departed the company while Compass’s eight other subsidiaries, including 5.11 Tactical, “continue to operate normally, have strong balance sheets, and collectively generate substantial cash flow,” according to a statement from Sabo in the Orange County Business Journal.

***Flying Lizard will make a one-off return to GT4 America this weekend, fielding a BMW M4 GT4 EVO for the father-and-son pairing of Craig and Zach Lumsden, competing in the Am class. Both drivers primarily boast backgrounds in off-road racing, including world-renowned events such as Dakar and Pikes Peak, but also have previous road racing experience.

***Law said: “We’re excited to welcome Craig and Zach to the team. This collaboration has been in discussion for some time, and while GT4 racing will be a new discipline for both drivers, they bring a wealth of experience from various areas within the motorsport industry. We’re confident that their skill sets will translate well to GT4 competition, and this opportunity serves as an excellent introduction to the category.”

***ACI Motorsports, which is fielding its No. 25 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport this weekend for ex-Flying Lizard driver Damir Hot and Porsche Carrera Cup North America star Ryan Yardley, will have its No. 9 entry, spearheaded by Dan Sibille, back for the rest of the season beginning at Road America according to team owner/driver Curt Swearingin. Porsche Motorsport North America Selected driver Loek Hartog, and alumni Kay van Berlo, have been splitting co-driver duties in the car with Sibille.

***Both the No. 25 ACI Porsche and No. 37 Dome Mercedes-AMG have received technical waivers for this weekend, with ACI running a Motec data logger in lieu of the Emotag unit for this event only, with the Dome entry not running tire pressure monitoring systems or rain lights as they were not available from the manufacturer in time for this weekend.

***McLaren Trophy will see the No. 4 GMG Racing McLaren Artura Trophy Evo run with only a single driver, after it was declared on Thursday that KC King is unable to participate this weekend. John Capestro-Dubets, who will drive solo, will therefore be required to complete a minimum pit stop time of 85 seconds in the race, compared to the 80 seconds for all two-driver entries.

***The McLaren Trophy entry has also seen the withdrawal of the No. 812 RAFA Racing Team McLaren, which was initially listed with no drivers. Fourteen cars are now entered for the pair of 50-minute races this weekend.

***The GR Cup entry list has been reduced by two, with the withdrawals of both the No. 16 Copeland Toyota of Dean, who was due to make his first series start since Sonoma Raceway, and the 47 TechSport entry of Ayden Kirk, reducing the field to 24 cars.

***Zach Hollingshead has been replaced at the wheel of the No. 88 PT Autosport with Copeland Motorsports in GR Cup competition for the remainder of the season by Max Stallone, despite having been awarded a driver partnership worth up to $250,000 (with $50,000 guaranteed) in last year’s PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout.

***A team representative provided the following statement to Sportscar365:  “Aspiring Driver Shootout winners understand from the start that while the team provides a constant level of support both on and off track – in addition to the financial commitment – there is a projected curve in terms of development and improvement progression that is expected.”

***Stallone, a 19-year-old from Austin who finished third in the shootout, heads into his first race weekend with several tests with the car at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

***Christian Weir’s No. 71 TechSport Toyota GR86 Cup will carry the now-familiar orange and purple Racing to End Alzheimer’s colors for the remainder of the season, as part of a new partnership. Racing to End Alzheimer’s mission is to bring awareness about Alzheimer’s to tracks in North America, helping friends and family honor loved ones who have suffered from the disease, with the organization offering families to honor loved ones who have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia to have their name and hometown placed on the car for a $250 donation.

***Weir’s car is in the identical design as the No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4, which competes in Pilot Challenge, for the same cause.

***The VIR weekend is set to be hot and stormy, with thunderstorms also forecast for both Friday and Saturday afternoons. All race action will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel, SRO Motorsports Group on Twitch, as well as its new multi-view streaming experience, which includes on-board cameras for GTWC America, courtesy of Vbrick and GPX Stream. Click Here for the dedicated page for SRO America’s new streaming initiative.

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