RS1 commands GTWC America weekend at VIR

The GT World Challenge America weekend at Virginia International Raceway was marked by a dominating display of the No. 18 RS1 Porsche 992 GT3R of Jan Heylen and Alex Sedgwick as they won on Saturday and Sunday, a Pro-Am Cup sweep for the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg with very contrasting circumstances regarding their wins, and late power outages that affected the whole circuit at the end of the event on Sunday.
 
Race 1 had the No. 91 Regulator Mercedes winning the drag race to the first corner, and with the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW falling into the radar of the No. 18 RS1 Porsche, everything should help Philip Ellis not only in terms of positioning, as the whole Pro Cup field separated him from the No. 16 AF Corse Ferrari that second in the Pro-Am Cup, but also in the strategy, as the clean air would help do the usual getaway drive to leave Jeff Burton in the best position later.
 
With marginal gains, Ellis had 11 seconds to Kenton Koch when the No. 92 LAB Porsche lost the rear and went straight to the barriers, which meant a Safety Car entry to rescue the Porsche, as it got stuck in the tire stack, which essentially nullified Ellis’ effort. It can be said that the losses for the No. 91 were minimized as the pit stops were under yellow, but still the damage was done to the strategy as Burton was left as penultimate in the Pro-Am Cup.
 
Thanks to the pit stops under Safety Car, the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Corvette that started in last became the overall leader while the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW was leading the Pro Cup, but this didn’t last long as Jan Heylen delivered pace to pass Connor de Phillippi, and with Aaron Povoledo having to deal with drive time issues, he pulled off the front of the No. 18, which turned Heylen in the overall leader.
 
On track, Povoledo was in similar pace or sometimes faster than Heylen, but never made the move as the Pro-Am Cup was settled, but while the No. 18 RS1 Porsche cruised to win overall and the Pro Cup, the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Corvette did a freak pit stop in the final lap to try to avoid a penalty, which handed the Pro-Am Cup win to the No. 29 Turner BMW, with the No. 163 AF Corse Ferrari winning in the Am Cup as the No. 6 Dollahite Mustang had to retire with terminal damage.
 
GTWC America - VIR Race 1 results
 

In the second race, the No. 18 RS1 Porsche continued from where it left off on Saturday and led way as the No. 29 Turner BMW was trying a move for the overall lead, leaving Robby Foley in second as he was trying to run away from the No. 32 GMG Porsche, with the Pro-Am Cup cars separating the No. 18 from the No. 34 JMF Mercedes in the Pro Cup battle.
 
The mandatory pit stop eventually put the No. 34 ahead of the Pro-Am Cup leaders, but it wasn’t enough of a move to offer a challenge to the No. 18 RS1 Porsche, as the gap only grew to the almost 10 seconds shown at the finish line.
 
A fierce battle was seen in the Pro-Am Cup, with the No. 29 Turner BMW holding the lead for the remainder of the race, half a second ahead of the No. 11 DXDT Racing Corvette, while the No. 6 Dollahite Mustang bounced back from the frustrating Saturday and commanded the Am Cup.
 
GTWC America - VIR Race 2 results
 
The competition will be resumed at Road America, with nearly a month of a break as rounds 9 and 10 will be held on 16 and 17 August.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/Fabian Lagunas