(Words and Photos by David Whealon) Well we’re back to the rolling hills of the southern Virginia countryside at one of the most beautiful and award winning road racing courses in the USA, Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Va. This event marks the ninth consecutive running of America’s world class sports car racing series returning for the IMSA Michelin GT Challenge. Unlike most other IMSA events, this one is limited to only GTD Pro and GTD racers sans the Prototypes. But that doesn’t mean there’s any lack of fast action or excitement on the state park like 3.27 mile road circuit.
With the long straights, winding turns and elevation changes, VIR is one of the fastest and most technical tracks that these factory based and non-factory teams will compete on all season. With the likes of Lamborghini, Lexus, Acura, AMG Mercedes, Aston Martin, BMW and the ever popular American muscle Chevy Corvette along with the new Ford Mustang GT3, bragging rights to this one are truly cherished.
Accompanying the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races were the multi-class IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (GT4 and TCR) and the double header weekend races of the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup and the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge of which included the multi-class racing of the LMP3 Prototypes and GT4. As an added bonus, the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) NASCAR Classic presented by Petty’s Garage made its debut this weekend which is open to retired stock cars carrying authentic and period-correct liveries previously seen in NASCAR competition.
Once again the illustrious VIR hills came alive with of some of the best kick butt spec series and multi-class sportscar racing at its finest.
