Corvette Racing Continues IMSA Dominance at Virginia

Virginia International Raceway was the site of annother dominant performance by Corvette Racing in IMSA competition, but this time by the No. 3 team.

Another day, another dominating performance by Corvette Racing as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship rolled into Virginia International Raceway on Sunday. It just wasn’t from the team fans were expecting.

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For much of 2016 the GT Le Mans category has been controlled by the No. 4 Corvette team of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. But on Sunday, it was their sister team’s turn to lead, with Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen controlling the race in the No. 3 throughout the two hours and forty minutes.

Garcia and Magnussen would win by 0.802 seconds over the No. 66 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand.

Their victory came as the No. 4 team fell prey to the same pitfalls many competitors found at VIR. The a hard crash for the Corvette brought out the only full-course caution of the day but several GTLM cars spent time off-track.

Meanwhile in GT Daytona, Lamborghini scored their first victory in class with Paul Miller Racing drivers Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow. It was the first win of the year for the team, beating three Audis to the checkered flag.

Stevenson Motorsports would have their cars finish in second and third after Magnus Racing’s No. 44 car, which crossed the line in third, would be penalized post-race for failing inspection and was excluded from the order.

The class victory by Lamborghini puts a positive spin on what has been a negative news cycle out of the GT Daytona category. Concerns about balance of performance for the Porsche squads led the WeatherTech team to park their car for the remainder of the season, and Park Place’s No. 73 car to skip the VIR race.

But it’s worth noting that the only remaining Porsche in the GT Daytona field, the No. 23 Alex Job Racing team, came home fourth in class on Sunday.

Here are the full results from the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway (class winners in bold):

1. Antonio Garcia, Chevrolet, Corvette Racing, GT Le Mans
2. Dirk Mueller, Ford, Chip Ganassi Racing, GT Le Mans
3. Earl Bamber, Porsche, Porsche North America, GT Le Mans
4. Ryan Briscoe, Ford, Chip Ganassi Racing, GT Le Mans
5. Dirk Werner, BMW, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, GT Le Mans
6. Patrick Pilet, Porsche, Porsche North America, GT Le Mans
7. Giancarlo Fisichella, Ferrari, Risi Competizione, GT Le Mans
8. John Edwards, BMW, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, GT Le Mans
9. Bryan Sellers, Lamborghini, Paul Miller Racing, GT Daytona
10. Lawson Aschenbach, Audi, Stevenson Motorsports, GT Daytona
11. Robin Liddell, Audi, Stevenson Motorsports, GT Daytona
12. Alex Riberas, Porsche, Alex Job Racing, GT Daytona
13. Spencer Pumpelly, Lamborghini, Change Racing, GT Daytona
14. Jeroen Bleekemolen, Dodge, Riley Motorsports, GT Daytona
15. Alessandro Balzan, Ferrari, Scuderia Corsa, GT Daytona
16. Markus Palttala, BMW, Turner Motorsport, GT Daytona
17. Oliver Gavin, Chevrolet, Corvette Racing, GT Le Mans
18. Mike Skeen, Dodge, Riley Motorsports, GT Daytona
19. Luca Persiani, Lamborghini, Dream Racing, GT Daytona
20. Bret Curtis, BMW Turner Motorsport, GT Daytona
21. Andy Lally, Audi, Magnus Racing, GT Daytona

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IMSA fans will now get a brief break as the top sports car drivers in America will not be back in action until the middle of September. The Lone Star Le Mans will see sportscar racing come to the Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

That race can be seen on Saturday, Sep. 17 at 12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT live on FS2. A race replay will air on Sunday, Sep. 18 at 11:30 am ET/8:30 a.m. PT on FS1.