The 2021 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia on October 9, 2021. The race was the eleventh round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the eighth round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in September 2020. It was the eighth consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC. [1] The 2021 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR was the eleventh of twelve sports car races of 2021 by IMSA, and it was the eighth round held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. [2] The race was held at the seventeen-turn 3.270 mi (5.263 km) Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia. As in previous years, the event was also the second GT-only round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship season, in which only the GTLM and GTD classes were scheduled to compete. [3]
Originally scheduled to run on August 22, 2021, the race was set to clash with the 24 Hours of Le Mans after the event was postponed from its original date in June to August. [4] As a result, IMSA rescheduled the event to October 9, 2021, and moved Petit Le Mans to November 13, 2021. [3] [5]
On September 30, 2021, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event. [6] In GTD, the Lexus RC F GT3 received a 10 kilogram weight break. No changes were made in GTLM.
Before the race, Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 2917 points, 160 points ahead of Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy followed by Cooper MacNeil in third. [7] With 2570 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Zacharie Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor, ahead of Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers. [7] Chevrolet and Porsche were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Corvette Racing and Pfaff Motorsports each led their own Teams' Championships. [7]
A total of 18 cars took part in the event, split across 2 classes. 3 cars were entered in GTLM, and 15 in GTD. [8] In GTLM, Kévin Estre would be joining Cooper MacNeil in the #79 WeatherTech Racing entry. GTD saw various changes after the previous round, as Alegra Motorsports would return after skipping the previous 3 rounds. [9] Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports also returned for the first time since the Road America race with Mike Skeen partnering Guy Cosmo. [10] Compass Racing withdrew from the event in order to focus on the Indianapolis 8 Hours. [11] Mario Farnbacher subbed for Marc Miller, who was injured, in the Gradient Racing #66. [12]
There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, both on Friday. The first session lasted one hour on Friday morning while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted 75 minutes. [13]
The first practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Friday and ended with Kévin Estre topping the charts for WeatherTech Racing, with a lap time of 1:41.124, ahead of Nick Tandy in the No. 4 Corvette. [14] The GTD class was topped by the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen with a time of 1:44.391. Franck Perera in the No. 19 Lamborghini was second fastest followed by Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Aston Martin. [15]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTLM | 79 | WeatherTech Racing | Kévin Estre | 1:41.124 | _ |
| 2 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Nick Tandy | 1:41.921 | +0.797 |
| 3 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Antonio García | 1:41.969 | +0.845 |
| Sources: [16] [17] | ||||||
The second and final practice session took place at 11:55 am ET on Friday and ended with Kévin Estre topping the charts for WeatherTech Racing, with a lap time of 1:41.124. Tommy Milner's No. 4 Corvette was second fastest followed by Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette. [18] The GTD class was topped by the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth with a time of 1:44.407, ahead of Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Aston Martin. [19]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTLM | 79 | WeatherTech Racing | Kévin Estre | 1:40.838 | _ |
| 2 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Tommy Milner | 1:41.200 | +0.362 |
| 3 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Jordan Taylor | 1:41.313 | +0.475 |
| Sources: [20] [21] | ||||||
Qualifying was broken into two sessions. [13] The first was for cars in the GTD class. Robby Foley qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 96 car for Turner Motorsport, beating Madison Snow in the No. 1 Lamborghini by 0.236 seconds. Trent Hindman was third in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche followed by Roman De Angelis in the No. 23 Aston Martin. [22]
The final session of qualifying was for the GTLM and GTD classes. Tommy Milner qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 4 car for Corvette Racing, besting teammate Jordan Taylor in the sister No. 3 Corvette Racing entry by less than 0.010 seconds. [23] Cooper MacNeil in the No. 79 Porsche rounded out the GTLM field. [24] Ross Gunn set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session driving the No. 23 car for Heart of Racing Team and earned 35 championship points. Gunn was 0.141 seconds clear of teammate Alex Riberas in the sister No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin. [23] Jack Hawksworth was third in the No. 14 Lexus followed by Bryan Sellers in the No. 1 Lamborghini. [24]
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTLM | 4 |  Corvette Racing | Tommy Milner | 1:40.263 | _ | 1‡ |
| 2 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Jordan Taylor | 1:40.266 | +0.003 | 2 |
| 3 | GTLM | 79 | WeatherTech Racing | Cooper MacNeil | 1:41.445 | +1.182 | 3 |
| 4 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport | Robby Foley | 1:43.809 | +3.546 | 4‡ |
| 5 | GTD | 1 | Paul Miller Racing | Madison Snow | 1:44.045 | +3.782 | 5 |
| 6 | GTD | 16 | Wright Motorsports | Trent Hindman | 1:44.145 | +3.882 | 17 1 |
| 7 | GTD | 23 | Heart Of Racing Team |  Roman De Angelis | 1:44.161 | +3.898 | 6 |
| 8 | GTD | 39 | CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing | Richard Heistand | 1:44.230 | +3.967 | 7 |
| 9 | GTD | 14 | Vasser Sullivan Racing | Aaron Telitz | 1:44.358 | +4.095 | 8 |
| 10 | GTD | 9 | Pfaff Motorsports | Zacharie Robichon | 1:44.423 | +4.160 | 16 2 |
| 11 | GTD | 12 | Vasser Sullivan Racing | Frankie Montecalvo | 1:44.447 | +4.184 | 9 |
| 12 | GTD | 28 | Alegra Motorsports | Michael de Quesada | 1:44.712 | +4.449 | 10 |
| 13 | GTD | 32 | Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports | Guy Cosmo | 1:44.790 | +4.527 | 11 |
| 14 | GTD | 27 | Heart Of Racing Team |  Ian James | 1:45.274 | +5.011 | 18 3 |
| 15 | GTD | 66 | Gradient Racing | Till Bechtolsheimer | 1:45.662 | +5.399 | 12 |
| 16 | GTD | 19 |  GRT Grasser Racing Team | Misha Goikhberg | 1:45.699 | +5.436 | 13 |
| 17 | GTD | 88 | Team Hardpoint | Rob Ferriol | 1:46.416 | +6.153 | 14 |
| 18 | GTD | 44 | Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports | John Potter | 1:46.959 | +6.696 | 15 |
| Sources: [25] [26] [27] | |||||||
The result kept Antonio García and Jordan Taylor atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship. [31] With 2938 points, Robichon and Vanthoor's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Sellers and Snow in the GTD Drivers' Championship. Long advanced from fifth to fourth while Auberlen and Foley dropped from fourth to fifth. [31] Chevrolet and Porsche continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Corvette Racing and Pfaff Motorsports kept their respective advantages in the their respective of Teams' Championships with one round remaining in the season. [31]
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.
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