SRN Motorsports claimed GT AM victory in the Virginia Sports Car Grand Prix as the #75 Mercedes of Daniel Graulty and Ryan Huff converted late control into a 15.944-second win at Virginia International Raceway.
The result came after a race with two full-course yellows, 41 minutes under yellow, and nine class lead changes. Wastegate Racing finished second with the #33 Mercedes, while the debuting #499 499RACING Lamborghini completed the podium after leading laps in its first SportsCar Championship appearance.
Yanusauskas Puts Blocco Motore on Pole
Steven Yanusauskas gave the #283 Blocco Motore Simsport Aston Martin pole position with a 1:45.635, earning his first GT AM class pole and the second class pole for Blocco Motore Simsport.
The pole did not translate into a race result. The #283 later received a 180-second post-race penalty for an incident at Turn 1 involving the #19 Gowin Racing entry and the #3 Tri-State Racing BMW, dropping the Aston Martin to 12th in the final order.
Early Lead Changes and Two Full-Course Yellows
Yanusauskas led the field away at the start, but Nicholas Gowin moved the #19 Gowin Racing entry into the class lead on lap one. The lead changed again on lap 20 when Michael Adamczyk put the #747 Flight Level Racing Ford ahead.
The first full-course yellow came 34 minutes into the race and lasted until the one-hour, one-minute mark. A second full-course yellow followed shortly after, coming out one hour and ten minutes into the race before the restart at one hour and 25 minutes.
Those interruptions shaped the pit cycles and shuffled the class order. Marty Jefferies led for the #74 SRN Motorsports Mercedes on lap 27, Brandon Chan took the #499 499RACING Lamborghini to the front on lap 30, and Ryan Huff moved the eventual winning #75 SRN Motorsports Mercedes into the lead on lap 35.
SRN Motorsports Executes Late
The #499 Lamborghini returned to the lead on lap 49 with Chan, before Jason Keddy led for the #747 Ford on lap 51. Daniel Graulty then put the #75 Mercedes back ahead on lap 52, briefly lost the lead to Demarcus Rodgers in the #499 on lap 74, and reclaimed it on lap 77.
From there, the #75 controlled the final phase. SRN Motorsports led the most laps in class with 38 and added another GT AM victory to a list that already included Daytona and Long Beach earlier in the 2026 season.
Ryan Huff said the team had not expected to be in such a strong position after practice. “We were honestly surprised to be in that position, given that the Mercedes did not seem to have the pace of the Aston Martin, BMW, and Ferrari in the practice sessions leading up to the race. Once we were in the final hour, with a decent gap over second place, we just tried to stay focused on managing traffic and were not thinking too much about anything else.”
Graulty pointed to execution rather than raw speed. “It was all in the execution. We thought going into the race that we would be lucky to grab a podium with the heavy balance of performance on the Mercedes. I do not think we had much for the Ferrari on pure pace, but we executed the strategy and did not make any driving mistakes, and that got us the win.”
Wastegate Protects Championship Lead
The #33 Wastegate Racing Mercedes of Will Robertson and Tamer Elbaga finished second, 15.944 seconds behind the winner. It was another composed points result for the championship leaders, who remained first in both the SportsCar Championship and Sprint Cup standings.
Robertson said the team’s approach remained built around patience. “We do the best we can, and the rest is letting the race come to us. We aim to be there for the final stint, focusing on staying clean in the hope of being there at the end.”
Elbaga said the race turned on consistency and timing. “It was all about consistency. We started sixth. Will kept us close enough to the lead pack, and we found a way to get me in the car with some clean air and a hot lap to gain ground with the undercut.”
499RACING Makes Podium Return
The #499 499RACING Lamborghini finished third with Brandon Chan and Demarcus Rodgers, 23.602 seconds behind the winner. It was the team’s first SportsCar Championship race since the 2022 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, where it competed in LMP2.
Team manager Nick Eby said the podium was encouraging but also left the team wondering what might have been. “It feels great to come out of the gate with a result like that. We knew we had a strong team at 499RACING, but heading into our first VSCA race, our main focus was on executing cleanly, following the rules, and avoiding penalties. There is a lot to manage in this series, especially with strategy. That said, we cannot help but feel like we left a win on the table. We came up just one lap short on fuel, which ultimately came down to a missed call on strategy. Looking back, we believe we could have made it if we had started saving a bit earlier.”
Rodgers said the debut gave the team a strong platform. “It feels great to start off our debut race on a high note. We kept out of trouble and ran fast, consistent laps. Outside of my spin in the closing laps, I feel like there are a lot of positives to take from this and improve on.”
Superstar Racing Team Charges Through the Field
The #4 Superstar Racing Team McLaren delivered one of the standout recovery drives of the race, climbing from 15th on the grid to fourth at the finish. Nate Boggess and Thomas Spencer gained eleven positions and moved the entry up to third in the Sprint Cup standings.
Boggess credited Spencer for the late-race progress. “Thomas Spencer has to get most of the credit for the progress we made late in the race. I was originally not going to make this race and joined the car with only a week or two of practice. The competition in VSCA is outstanding and requires much more time to be super competitive than I could carve out on such short notice. I had a good first stint, and we gained some positions by taking advantage of some attrition on track.”
Spencer said the result came from fuel strategy and a clean car. “This race was all about fuel strategy for our car. Nate pitted to swap drivers just after the long full-course yellow ended, which put us in a position to stretch fuel and only need one more stop to make it to the end. We kept the car clean all race long with only one incident point, which saved us an incredible amount of time by avoiding a drive-through penalty and getting a completely undamaged car to the finish.”
The sister #17 Superstar Racing Team McLaren of Jacob Besemer and Timothy Hansen completed the top five, finishing just 0.071 seconds behind the #4. The entry also received a post-race warning after Hansen was found responsible for contact with the #3 Tri-State Racing BMW at Turn 4.
Flight Level, SWF, Vulture and Tri-State Complete the Top Nine
The #747 Flight Level Racing Ford finished sixth with Jason Keddy and Michael Adamczyk after also leading the class during the race. The entry received a warning for a pre-race pace lap violation after Race Stewards found it had passed multiple GT AM cars without authorization, though no advantage was gained by the start.
SWF Motorsports finished seventh with the #94 Porsche of Jason Smith, Jon Foote and Rich Wright. Wright said the challenge was finding a setup that suited all three drivers. “It was more difficult to have a car setup that three drivers each felt consistent with. In each of our stints, there were mistakes. Some were self-inflicted, and others we had assistance.”
The #64 Vulture Motorsports Porsche of Erol Ureksoy and Kyle Potter finished eighth, one lap down. Ureksoy raced despite a torn rotator cuff after Erik Terry-Haag had to withdraw on short notice. “The doctor says I tore my rotator cuff and advised against racing this weekend. However, we felt that if I kept my driving limited to the minimum, it would not be too bad. The hardest thing about the buildup to the race was that I had to keep practice laps to a minimum so I would not aggravate my injury.”
The #3 Tri-State Racing BMW of Chris Cadiz and Jesse Molina finished ninth, also one lap down. Cadiz said the car had been in better shape earlier before the final hour went wrong. “For much of the first half of the race, we were in clean air and running decent lap times. We did not have much pace all week, so we were pretty pleased to find ourselves in podium contention for much of the race.”
FR13DA Sport Rounds Out the Top Ten
The #912 FR13DA Sport Porsche of Logan Giesbrecht and Diego Rodriguez completed the top ten, finishing one lap behind the winning Mercedes. Their race stayed out of the Race Control incident reports, but a force feedback issue cost the team ground.
Giesbrecht said the team had aimed to keep the car clean. “Diego and I went into this race knowing we needed to be clean, and we accomplished that goal. Diego was a little bit hard on track limits, but otherwise he was very clean. I got in the car with only three incident points to spare until a drive-through, so I had to be very clean in my stint.”
Rodriguez said the mechanical issue and hot conditions limited their result. “I knew that I struggled at this track, but I still put in a lot of effort to learn more and figure out where to get faster. I was still off the top guys by a second or so, but the safety cars kept us on the lead lap until I had a force feedback issue that cost us a few laps.”
Team manager Tom Keitemeyer called it a disciplined race. “Overall, I would describe it as a disciplined race and a solid execution from the #912 crew. We knew outright pace might be a challenge at this circuit, so the focus was on maximizing the package, staying on the lead lap as long as possible, and executing cleanly. The force feedback issue cost us valuable ground, but despite that, the team extracted a respectable result.”
Championship Picture After VIR
Wastegate Racing maintained the GT AM SportsCar Championship lead with 1800 points. The #75 SRN Motorsports Mercedes moved up to second, 165 points behind, while the #74 SRN Motorsports Mercedes dropped to third, 210 points off the lead.
In the Sprint Cup, Wastegate also stayed first with 945 points. The #75 SRN Motorsports Mercedes moved up to second, only 40 points behind, while the #4 Superstar Racing Team McLaren climbed to third, 145 points back.
The clean racing bonus remains an important part of that picture. With bonus points weighted at 50 percent of the finishing position points system, the race winner does not automatically leave with the largest points score if another team combines a strong finish with fewer incident points.
GT AM Heads to Homestead-Miami
The next race for GT AM will be the Miami Sports Car Grand Prix at Homestead-Miami Speedway on May 09, 2026, with the race scheduled to start at 16:00 GMT. It will be Round 6 of 11 in the 2026 VSCA SportsCar Championship.
Wastegate Racing will arrive still in control of the championship, but the margin has tightened. SRN Motorsports now has the #75 within 40 points in the Sprint Cup, while Superstar Racing Team’s fourth-place recovery at VIR has pulled the #4 McLaren into the Sprint Cup top three. 499RACING also leaves VIR with immediate proof that its Lamborghini can contend near the front, adding another storyline to watch at Homestead-Miami.