Luis Diaz scored the win in Sunday’s Prototype Challenge class at Virginia International Raceway on Sunday, giving he and teammate Sean Rayhall the overall victory in the class. Photo by Richard Dole LAT Photo USA for IMSA
DANVILLE, VA – Luis Diaz took over where teammate Sean Rayhall left off at Virginia International Raceway, leading every lap of Sunday’s 45-minute Prototype Challenge (PC) segment to give the No. 25 8Star Motorsports Takis/Speedsters ORECA FLM09 the overall victory in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship event.
Rayhall led all 23 laps in Saturday evening’s segment, while Diaz led 24 laps on Sunday, holding off the efforts of Bruno Junqueira, Colin Braun and Renger van der Zande, who each took turns in second. The event ended under caution following a late incident involving Junqueira, who spun and made contact with a tire barrier in Turn 7.
Combined points from the weekend’s two segments determined the final results for the eighth PC race of the season.
“My plan was to stay out front,” Diaz said. “I’m not very good with math, that’s why I’m a race car driver. I knew I didn’t have as fast of a pace as the other guys, so I couldn’t make any mistakes. I had a lot of pressure on me, I was playing the game of not looking in my mirrors. I was thankful the yellow flag came out. I knew Colin was stronger than me, and we didn’t have to fight against this good driver.”
Braun finished the segment in second in the No. 54 CORE autosport ORECA FLM09 started by Jon Bennett, who finished seventh in the opening segment. Renger van der Zande took third in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Martini entry started by Mirco Schultis, who was eighth on Saturday.
“They certainly had a good car, a fast car, and hats off to them,” Braun said. “Guys who finished second always say if they had more green flag running we would have had a shot at them at the end. It would have been fun to race Luis at the end, but that’s the way it goes. It was certainly exciting racing.”
Diaz led Junqueira for the opening 14 laps, before Junqueira spun in the No. 09 RSR Racing Linospresso USA entry driven to second by Duncan Ende on Saturday. Braun then ran second for several laps, but lost the position to van der Zande while challenging Diaz in the Oak Tree Turn.
Van der Zande had an off-course excursion of his own three laps later, with Braun moving to within a half-second of the lead before the final caution.
“It was a real bullfight, a sprint race, and I enjoyed it,” said van der Zande, a two-time winner in 2014 competition. “My fight for the lead was amazing – all fair and clean, with a little paint exchanged.”
In the combined final results, David Ostella (fifth on Sunday) and James French (third on Saturday) finished second in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA FLM09, followed by Braun and Bennett.
“James did an awesome job going from seventh to third yesterday, but I struggled with the car today,” Ostella said. “I can’t complain about second overall. It’s our best finish of the season. Hopefully we will get it one better at the next one.”
Ferrari continues to find new reasons to celebrate in its 60th anniversary celebration of racing in North America.
Two races after scoring its first pole in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and one race after a breakthrough first win at Road America, Giancarlo Fisichella made a last-lap pass on Wolf Henzler to score a second consecutive victory in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia Sunday in the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway.
A late caution set up a six-minute sprint to the checkered flag, with Fisichella immediately attacking the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR of Henzler. The two went side-by-side multiple times throughout the final four laps with Fisichella making the race-winning pass on the final lap in Turn 11.
“I knew it was the last lap and I did all I could do,” said Fisichella, who was joined by co-driver Pierre Kaffer in the victory, just as he was two weeks ago at Road America. “I got close to Henzler and I was lucky because I even had a good exit. Once I took the lead, I was quicker than him in the straights.”
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“Sometimes you have to take a chance; we took a bit of (a gamble on) fuel and it paid off,” said Henzler. “Some other times you take a chance and you can’t make it. This time we were lucky, other times we were not. I think we deserved it, we deserved to be on the podium here.”
Searching for its first victory in GTLM competition, BMW scored its sixth podium in nine races with Dirk Mueller and John Edwards co-driving to third in BMW Team RLL’s No. 56 Crowne Plaza BMW Z4 GTE.
Antonio Garcia and the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R team unofficially leads the GTLM standings by six points, 270-264, over Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer and the No. 93 SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R team with two races remaining.
Dane Cameron swept to the inside of Damien Faulkner with 45 minutes remaining and led the rest of the way to take the fourth GT Daytona (GTD) victory of the season for the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 started by Markus Palttala.
Cameron took the checkered flag 1.420 seconds ahead of Alessandro Balzan, giving the team its second consecutive victory while setting up a three-way tie atop the GTD point standings with only two races remaining.
Cameron now has 244 points, unofficially joining No. 555 AIM Autosport REVO/Robert Graham Ferrari 458 Italia drivers Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler, and No. 22 Alex Job Racing WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America drivers Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil for the lead in the championship.
“It’s a big gain for us to come in 12 points behind and leave tied,” Cameron said. “We’re in a good position now, but we’re not going to change our strategy. We’re not going to run conservatively and run for points or anything. We’ll do what we need to win this championship.
“The last thing we needed today was that late yellow. The last thing we wanted was to be bunched up with everybody else, but I was able to get a good run coming out of the first corner and I could exhale from there. It was a pretty stressful day. It’s never easy to win in this category.”
Palttala led prior to his pit stop during the first of three cautions. Madison Snow, driving the No. 58 Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 GT America started by early race leader Jan Heylen, and Faulkner, who joined Michael Lewis in the No. 81 GB Autosport Tully’s Coffee Porsche 911, stayed out under the second caution period shortly before the two hour mark to take turns in the lead. Following the restart, Cameron needed four minutes to execute what proved to be the winning pass.
Balzan finished second in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia started by Jeff Westphal, followed by Patrick Dempsey and Andrew Davis in the No. 27 Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 GT America.
Dempsey started from the back of the field after missing qualifying due to an accident in Saturday morning practice, and worked his way up to third prior to his pit stop. Davis rejoined the race in seventh, and quickly worked his way into podium contention.
“I felt today was really important to show how much it means to me and to be in a series with these guys that are up here,” Dempsey said. “After chasing a podium for so long this year, and being here to compete, is so much fun.
“It’s a tremendous honor and privilege. When you have these moments, you’re grateful to have this experience.”
The next race for all four TUDOR Championship classes will be Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas on Saturday, Sept. 20. That race will feature FOX network television coverage on Sunday, Sept. 21.
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