ALTON, Va. — Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell enjoyed a Sunday drive in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, securing their second straight victory in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition at Virginia International Raceway.
The drivers of the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 led nearly the entirety of the two-hour, 40-minute race that showcased the WeatherTech Championship’s two GT classes, Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD).
Caldarelli delivered a mix of early pace from the Motul Pole Award before handing off to Mitchell. Both times, the No. 9 Lamborghini pitted from the lead and retained it leaving the pit lane.
The controlled effort, leading 69 of 84 laps ensured Pfaff won its second consecutive event, after also winning the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America earlier this month.
Lamborghini won back-to-back races in GTD at VIR in 2016 and 2017, but this marks the manufacturer’s first WeatherTech Championship win at the facility since 2017. Of note, that race also saw a Lamborghini on pole and progress to the win, same as Caldarelli and Mitchell did Sunday.
The pair of Ford Racing entries complete the podium in GTD PRO, with the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 of Dennis Olsen and Ben Barker second ahead of the sister No. 65 entry of Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies.
With most of the championship contenders finishing fifth or worse, the No. 9 Lamborghini has also unofficially leapt to third in GTD PRO points, behind the championship-leading No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO and No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
The GTD battle, meanwhile, flipped on its head inside the final hour as the championship contenders all ran in the top three positions.
Winward Racing staged a stunning run as Philip Ellis made the winning dive pass on Heart of Racing Team’s Tom Gamble inside of Turn 3 with seven minutes remaining.
Gamble, attempting to get the position back, then went down Ellis’ inside into Turn 4 the next turn. But he was unable to make the corner and made contact with Ellis through the corner, which netted Gamble a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.
Ellis and Russell Ward in their No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 have now won their third straight race in GTD and completed a comeback from 300 points behind leaving Watkins Glen International to now ascend to the GTD championship lead by 36 points.
Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher finished second in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO with Frederik Schandorff and Brendan Iribe third in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO. Iribe unofficially moves back to the lead in the Bob Akin Award standings with this result as well.
Gamble and Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello ended fourth in their No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, ahead of Danny Formal and Trent Hindman in their No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.
