The IMSA/WeatherTech Races and Porscheplatz at VIR

By Jim Condon

The IMSA/Weathertech races were the big events at VIR this year, on Saturday, August 27 and Sunday, August 28. Click here to see the photo gallery that goes along with this article.

PCA Zone 2 sponsored the Porscheplatz tent on the hill overlooking Turn 4 and the adjacent Porsche Corral. This location provides a good track view and was perfect for watching the practice session on Saturday morning. See the photos of the Porsche GT3 cup winners Jesse Lazare (the winner in #21), Lucas Catania (second place in #26), and Jeff Mosing (Platinum Masters winner in car #01) practicing. The Platinum Masters class is for drivers age 45 and older. Factory-supported GTLM (the “pro” GT class) cars like the Porsche #912 often climb the very bumpy gators in Turn 4 in order to straighten and shorten the track. They probably replace a lot suspension parts after each race. Factory drivers also push the limits so hard that they frequently go off—see the Audi mowing grass coming out of the Hog Pen turn.

The Porscheplatz offered tours of the Alex Job Racing transporter and workshop to PCA members who signed up early on Saturday morning. We got to see them preparing their GTD-class GT3 RSR for Sunday afternoon’s enduro race and to ask questions about strategy. Most Porsche teams (even the sponsor Weathertech) skipped the GTD race because they were unhappy with the “balance of performance” handicap imposed on Porsches, which is intended to keep any one manufacturer from dominating the race series. The whole paddock was full of fast cars with spectacular paint jobs on full view of anyone who was willing to walk around.

Saturday afternoon was dominatd by the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge (CTSC) 2.5-hour endurance race. The qualifying cars were lined up in the hot pits for viewing by spectactors just prior to the race. The #33 Cayman GT4 clubsport driven by Danny Burkett & Marc Miller won the race, which started out in sunshine, had several restarts following incidents, and was hit by a monsoon in the middle. After a number of cars went off due to low visibility and high water on the track, the race was interrupted for almost an hour. See the photo of a mechanic waterskiing on a piece of plywood while being pulled through the paddock by a golf cart.

Sunday morning started with the Mazda MX-5 race. This “entry level” race was quite competitive and fun to watch. It was followed by the agressively driven Supertrofeo (SuperCup) race for angry-looking Lamborghinis. One unfortunate driver spun in NASCAR bend, overcorrected, and shot across the track into the Armco on the inside of the bend. The final event of the morning was the Porsche GT3 Cup race, which was won by Jesse Lazare. Many of us couldn’t watch the whole GT3 Cup race because we had to line up for the Porsche parade laps immediately following. During the noon break, Sherry Westfall got to ride in a new GT3 for one of the “hot laps” with a PCNA pro driver. These “hot laps” are fairly fast, but not quite as fast as Sherry driving her Cayman S in a DE.

The main event of the weekend was the GTLM (GT Le Mans for factory pro drivers) and GTD (GT Daytona for others) enduro race in the afternoon. In GTLM, the #3 Corvette won, followed by the #66 Ford GT and the #912 Porsche driven by Earl Bamber and Frederick Makowieski. Somehow the “Eco Boost” label on the side of the Ford GT doesn’t seem appropriate for a 600+ horsepower twin-turbo racer. The #911 Porsche was slowed down by several off-track excursions at South Bend. See the resulting grass-covered radiator grill, which must have caused an overheating problem until it was cleared. The only Porsche racing in GTD was the #23 GT3 RSR driven by Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas for Alex Job racing; it came in 5th in class. These annual races and the Porschplatz at VIR are quite an experience for Porsche fans and amateur racers, who get to see what the best teams and drivers can offer. Just be sure to bring your hearing protectors—it can get painfully loud!