VIR Race Recap
It was a great field for the VIR round of the 2024 International GT season. The battle up front in the Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy was between REG WILLIAMS #008 Goldcrest Motorsports, JIMMY LLIBRE #911 CWR Motorsports (who shared the ride with CHARLES WICHT), TOM PANK #42 Ultra Performance and TODD TREFFORT #141, 901 SHOP. Reg Williams, at his home track, winning Sprint race 1 and the enduro in the GT4.R category.
Both Williams and Pank started on the front row for all races but in Sprint race 1 Pank had a fuel pump issue that made him miss a beat and slowing down Trefford as well, Williams took advantage and took off. In Sprint race 2 the young gun, Jimmy Llibre took off and didn’t look back. The enduro Sunday morning was delayed because of heavy fog but once it got started, Williams would hunt down and pass Pank for the win. Treffort and DAVID TUATY #68 TGM USA kept the pressure on the front runners throughout the weekend. Treffort finished third in the enduro and Tuaty took a second in Sprint race 2.
In the GT4.0 category there was a fantastic battle with LUKAS PANK #40 Ultra Performance and MUZAFFAR GAFUROV #888 Goldcrest Motorsports. Experiencing some mechanical issues in qualifying, Lukas was not able to race Sprint race 1 and Muzaffar took the win. Pank did return in Sprint race 2 but had to start in the back of the field and Gafurov bested him for the win. In the enduro Lukas was able to put together a great performance for the win. New to the series, GEORGE MICHAEL MERRITT #898 CWR Motorsports finished second in Sprint race 1 but also experienced mechanical issues which sidelined him for the remainder of the weekend.
Newcomer GABRIEL JASPER #69 Team KMC did double duty racing in Trans Am as well as International GT. He made a good showing, placing on the podium in all three IGT races.
The photo of #40 shows off the iconic red barns of VIRginia International Raceway.
Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy championship points leader TOMMY BALLESTER #188 TLM USA continued to dominate in the GT3.8 category. After borrowing a race car from a friend to race our Watkins Glen round while his car was being repaired, he was back in his recognizable Coloso Porsche at VIR. Tommy won Sprint races 1 and 2 but a shortened enduro (due to weather) handed BOB WISEN #27 Ultra Performance his first ever IGT enduro win – congratulations!
TOM McGLYNN #8 901 Shop returned to IGT competition with his “hippy” car livery. McGlynn finished a strong second in Sprint race 1 but then had some mechanical issues in Sprint 2.
Another newcomer to the series was ALISTAIR BELTON #73. He brought his GT3.6 with the iconic Infineon livery and swept the category winning all three races.
We had two 4 liter Caymans at VIR. Although not new to IGT, it’s been a few years since we’ve seen JOZSEF PETKES #83 RCX Motorsports. Jozsef returned to VIR and brought along teammate WOODY WHICHARD #3A. Woody took the win in all three races however the two friends had some fun battles on track. We have to thank Jozsef and Woody for having some of the boldest liveries on the track.
Unfortunately our CAY4.0 competitor leading the championship and who has been with us all year DAVID HAMPTON couldn’t be at VIR but will be back for the season finale at COTA. We suspect CAY4.0 is the up and coming category and we will be seeing this category really expand in the future.
ROSS POOLE #85 Goldcrest Motorsports joined International GT for the fourth race this season. As usual he was tough to beat in the Stuttgart Cup CAY3.8 category, winning both Sprint race 1 and the enduro. He had a little spin early in Sprint race 2 but worked his way back up to third. Taking a pair of second place finishes just behind Poole was LARRY WEXLER #28 Autometrics. Wexler also had a misstep in Sprint 2. RICHARD WALKER #67 Extreme Velocity Motorsports joined International GT for the first time. He took advantage of the challenges of Poole and Wexler and went on to win Sprint race 1. Also having a strong weekend was MARK COOK #581 Autometrics. Mark finished second in Sprint race 2 and third in the enduro.
Over the years we have looked forward to seeing DAVID WILDRICK #94 annually at our Watkins Glen event, the upstate New York based racer was not able to compete at WGI this year with the changed date, so he and another NY based competitor ROCCO CANNATA #44 made the trek to VIR. Both in the Stuttgart Cup CAY3.8 category, Rocco had some mechanical gremlins that he chased all weekend, however he did finish on the podium in third for Sprint race 1. David was just off the podium in the three races but fought hard all weekend and for his efforts was presented a set of Pirelli tires.
JEFFREY THOMPSON #333 ZOTZ Racing returned to International GT competition after debuting with us at Watkins Glen. Jeff had a good weekend sweeping the Stuttgart Cup CAY3.4 category.
We can’t leave VIRginia International Raceway without giving a nod to CHARLTON HOLMES #14 Extreme Velocity Motorsports on his debut race with IGT. Charlton brought out a 2022 Toyota GT Supra GT4 EVO and ran in the Exhibition category. After strong testing, qualifying sessions and Sprint race 1, Holmes’s weekend ended early after being caught up in an incident in Sprint race 2.
You can see it all by linking below for the entire event streaming.
VIR Race Video
We had great streaming coverage from VIR for all three races. Click on the in-car camera photo to link to the coverage. To help you quickly find the International GT races in Saturday’s coverage race 1 is at 10:28 and race 2 is at 6:18:00. In Sunday’s coverage we are the first race however because of the fog delay you can forward to 22:40 to pick up the race start. We had in-car cameras in the cars of Reg Williams #008, Muzzafar Gafurov #888 and Ross Poole #85. Unintentionally, they all ended up in Goldcrest Motorsports cars, however all three provided excellent coverage. Watch the three IGT races or the entire weekend of race coverage on SpeedTourTV.
COTA Race and Testing
Every driver should have the Circuit of the Americas on their bucket list! It’s especially amazing being there about a week after the F1 race and seeing the remnants of how the facility is completely transformed for F1.
The preliminary schedule was just released. Click on the photo of the #12 race car to link to the schedule and event registration.
There is a special opportunity to test both Wednesday and Thursday. There are two 30-minute sessions available on Wednesday. These sessions will run with other SVRA groups (there will be one group for open-wheel cars and another for closed-wheel cars). These are 30 minute sessions on Wednesday at 3:40pm and 4:40pm and will cost $250. Thursday we will resume our regular testing schedule.
If you are interested in signing up for these additional Wednesday sessions contact julie@internationalGT.net or call (770)380-7770.
Official Series Photographer Chris Green
Chris Green is the official photographer for International GT. Chris is at all IGT races and does a fantastic job of covering our events. We encourage all competitors to reach out to him to see his beautiful images of your race car after every event. Or you can get with Chris and go over your photography needs prior to the events. Click on the photo to link to his website.
Market Place
Do you have something to sell, looking for something to purchase, a service to provide? Use our Marketplace to promote your race car, transporter or equipment. It’s free to International GT participants. Contact Julie@internationalGT.net or call (770)380-7770
Pirelli Tire Orders
We are proud to partner with Pirelli Tires as the exclusive provider to all International GT events. All Pirelli tire orders for IGT events must be placed with Frisby Tires. Frisby is at track at all IGT events to service our participants.
Click on the tire photo to link to the Frisby site for IGT orders or call (800)373-7390.
2024 Schedule
