DXDT and Regulator win VIR races in GTWC America

In middle of a weekend that had two withdrawals for different reasons, FANATEC GT World Challenge America held its fourth double header of the 2024 season at Virginia International Raceway, with the No. 63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alec Udell and Tommy Milner showing their clear advantage over the competition in Race 1, while the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Jeff Burton and Phillip Ellis made a mighty charge from the back to win the Race 2.
 
Before the proceedings start, George Kurtz had too much in his hands as he was forced to pack up home with the Crowdstrike by Riley squad due to the global outage related to a software from his company, which took down important business around the World.
 
Race 1 started with the No. 91 Regulator Mercedes imposing itself before turn 1 and taking the lead while the No. 28 ST Racing BMW sneaked into second place, leaving the No. 63 DXDT Corvette in the chasing side of the situation.
 
While Phillip Ellis and Bill Auberlen were settled in their top two positions, Alec Udell opted to bring the No. 63 early to stop and give it to Tommy Milner in the hopes of undercutting the leaders, and he was somehow helped by the fact that the No. 29 Turner BMW was sent straight to the barriers by the No. 38 ST Racing BMW, causing a lenghty Safety Car period that was lifted with only 18 minutes to go.
 
A stopped No. 28 ST Racing BMW consumed another 10 minutes of Safety Car, so Milner just had to hold Elloitt Skeer in the No. 120 Wright Porsche for 8 minutes to win overall, with another point being the fact that the No. 85 was more on the defensive from the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura, so Milner wouldn`t have too many threats on his back wing.
 
In the end, despite keeping a close watch, the No. 120 Wright Porsche couldn’t overtake the No. 63 DXDT Corvette, so the victory stood with Milner, while the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche capitalized in the penalty of the No. 38 ST Racing BMW to win the Pro-Am Cup despite being pressured by the same BMW during the final laps.
 
GTWC America - VIR Race 1 results
 

As if Saturday wasn’t already a loss for the series with Crowdstrike by Riley pulling out, Flying Lizard Motorsports also pulled out their No. 8 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 on Sunday due to disagreements over the Balance of Performance, so the No. 63 DXDT Corvette was leading a field of 12 cars on Race 2, shaking off the No. 120 Wright Porsche for the lead.
 
The positions were unchanged until the Safety Car came in before the pit window, so everybody went early for regular service to give the pros as much green flag time possible, and this was the opportunity that Adam Adelson caught to put the No. 120 ahead of the No. 63, and Spencer Pumpelly didn’t lose time to put the No. 85 RS1 Porsche in second, holding the No. 63 and the No. 28 ST Racing BMW while the No. 120  had a bit of a gap.
 
With 30 minutes to go, Udell barged his way to second and Bill Auberlen brought the No. 28 to third, and proving that Pumpelly was the bottleneck, Udell soon passed Adelson for the lead while Phillip Ellis joined the Pro Cup squabble with the No. 91 Regulator Mercedes, also applying pressure in the No. 120 to eventually make the move for second while keeping the Pro-Am Cup lead.
 
With the pace that Ellis had, he could fight for overall honors with Udell, and just before hitting the 80 minutes mark, the No. 91 Regulator Mercedes made the move for the overall top spot, becoming unreachable in the process and winning the race while also winning in the Pro-Am Cup, with the No. 63 DXDT Corvette winning the Pro Cup from second place.
 
GTWC America - VIR Race 2 results
 
The Pro Cup table is clearly in favor of the Adelson/Skeer duo (No. 120) as they have 152 points against 116 from Choksey aand Auberlen (No. 28) and 100 points from Udell/Milner (No. 63). There are five rounds until the season is over and the next destination is Road America, which will host the fifth double header on 17 and 18 August.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/Fabian Lagunas