Virginia International Raceway has a long history of racing that dates back to the 1950s. Throughout the years, the track has seen a lot of ups and downs - similar to its very own elevation changes.
With this weekend’s Sports Car Challenge at VIR, Round 9 of the 2023 VSCA SportsCar Championship the track makes its debut in that series.
“We’re excited to visit VIR for the first time and fully expect another entertaining and highly competitive race.”, said series director Benjamin Fischer.
The series will use the 3.270-mile (5.262 km) long Full Course layout for this Saturday’s event, counting 22 turns - a record-high on the entire series schedule. No other track the series competes at has a higher number of turns.
From the very technical esses from turn seven through turn ten to the iconic Oak Tree corner in turn twelve - VIR will offer a nice mix of fast and slow corners to competitors and fans alike.
LMDh championship battle wide open with No. 7 BMW in the lead
The No. 7 BMW of Grizzly Motorsports took the championship lead after Watkins Glen in June and has held the top spot in the standings table ever since.
However, with only 16 points over the No. 79 BMW of Champion Motorsports, the LMDh class championship is far from decided.
The team out of Denton, Texas has two wins to their credit so far this season and is the defending Endurance Cup champion. Also, the No. 79 machine is riding the momentum train after winning at Road America three weeks ago.
And then there are 24 Hours of Daytona champions, the No. 3 BMW of Mayer Simspeed Performance.
The Bavarian team out of Teisendorf, Germany started off the season with a first-place and second-place finish in the first three races, but has since seen a decline and not been able to get another podium result.
Now, with only three races to go, the team with Kyle Birnie, Niclas Pedersen and Jason Birnie face pressure of having to reduce a 74-point deficit and do so quickly. Otherwise the chance of the team to fight for the championship in the season finale at Road Atlanta in October will be slim to none.
And then there is JO Motorsports and their No. 99 BMW. Up until a post-race penalty, the team looked like they had secured their first win of the season at Road America.
The team out of Galt, California has been on a tear lately, finishing outside the top-five only once in their last seven races, climbing all the way from 12th in points to currently fourth.
Drivers Sheamus Power Jonathan Oshalim are among the names for fans to keep an eye on at VIR, as the team is pushing to cut into its 216-point deficit, mostly stemming from scoring no points in the season opener at Daytona.
DS Racing eSports Team and their No. 88 BMW won at Detroit Belle Isle in July but are still facing a significant 390-point deficit in the championship. However, with the strong pace the team has shown and two podium finishes in their last three starts, they are a force to be reckoned with at VIR.
Trading Paints inching closer towards LMP2 championship
While the top class championship is far from decided, things look headed towards Trading Paints Racing claiming their first championship in LMP2 class competition sooner or later.
Heading into the third-to-last race of the season, the No. 19 Dallara with drivers Jordan Erickson and Selena Ward hold a commanding 342-point lead in the standings table over Albrecht Motorsports and their No. 96 Dallara.
Albrecht Motorsports has come close to winning their first ever VSCA race multiple times, including back-to-back second-place finishes at Detroit Belle Isle and Road America. Can the team out of Frankfurt, Germany capture its first checkered flag before the season is over?
Fischer Motorsport and their No. 14 Dallara meanwhile look to close out the season strong, starting with a good result at VIR. Like Albrecht Motorsports, the Leipzig, Germany team has multiple second-place finishes to their credit this season, but so far has been unable to get its first win. The No. 14 Dallara last visited victory lane at CTMP in the 2022 season.
GTD class looking ahead to exciting final season quarter
Screeching Moose Motorsports and their No. 5 Mercedes have been holding the lead in the point standings table since Watkins Glen, despite the fact the team out of Maple Ridge, Canada is still looking for its first win in the VSCA SportsCar Championship. With a cushion of 138 points, it’s too early to predict a winner in this year’s GTD championship, but the team will look to maintain the top spot throughout the rest of the season. Putting forth a solid performance at VIR will be an important first step as the season hits the final quarter mark.
Hoping to spoil those plans, the No. 78 Champion Motorsports BMW sits in second place in the championship standings. Marc Johnson and Brett Stephens will look to pilot the BMW M4 GT3 to another good finish and in the process may hope for an opportunity to reduce the points gap at VIR - preferably with a finish better than the entry’s 7.5 average finishing position this season.
Torque Freak Racing and their No. 6 Lamborghini have won at Laguna Seca earlier this year. But that appears like a distant memory for the four-time GTD class race winners.
Facing a 154-point deficit, the London based team will have to make up a lot of ground and do so quickly. A strong finish at VIR while the competition might run into some troubles, could do just that, so it would be premature to count out last year’s Endurance Cup champions.
Two-time race winners MAD Sim Racing and their No. 393 Mercedes enter this weekend’s race with the strongest momentum among all cars on the grid, by way of winning the last two races. Looking back, failing to score championship points at Watkins Glen continues to hurt the team’s chances to play a serious role in the championship battle. But even with a 255-point gap to the leaders, entering VIR, the team may still have a shot to get itself back in the hunt with another win.
There is a saying it’s not about how you start, but about how you finish. For Kinetic Racing and their No. 67 Porsche 911 GT3 R, the season started out as great as you possibly could imagine - three wins in the first three races.
However, entering VIR, it has been five races since the team’s last win and the defending series champions have fallen from the championship lead to now fifth and 291 points behind.
Can the New Zealand based team come back and defend their title? VIR may need to be a first big step in that direction, if the team wants to have a shot to compete for the big trophy at Road Atlanta come October.
Sports Car Challenge at VIR streamed live
The Sports Car Challenge at VIR is scheduled to take the green flag Saturday 1600 GMT and the race will be streamed live by VSCA on YouTube from start to finish, for the entire duration of two hours and 40 minutes.
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