The 2023 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 August 27, 2023. The event was the ninth round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the sixth round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Background

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2022. It was the tenth consecutive year the event will be held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2023 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR was the ninth of eleven scheduled sports car races of 2023 by IMSA, and it was the sixth round held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the seventeen-turn Virginia International Raceway on August 27, 2023. As in previous years, it will be the second of two GT-only rounds of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, in which only the GTD Pro and GTD classes will compete.

IMSA released two separate technical bulletins regarding the Balance of Performance for the event. The first one was released on August 16, 2023. In this bulletin, the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 received a 12-horsepower decrease, as well as a four-liter fuel capacity reduction. The second technical bulletin was released on August 18, 2023. In this bulletin, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo received a 15 kilogram weight increase, as well as a 0.5 mm larger air restrictor and a one-liter fuel capacity increase. The Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) received a 10 kilogram weight increase, 2 mm larger air restrictor, and an increase in fuel capacity of one liter.

Before the race, Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth led the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship with 2810 points, ahead of Antonio García and Jordan Taylor in second with 2641 points, and Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella in third. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with 2611 points, ahead of Roman De Angelis and Marco Sørensen with 2406 points. Lexus and BMW were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Vasser Sullivan Racing and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries

A total of 19 cars took part in the event split across two classes. 5 cars are entered in GTD Pro and 14 in GTD. Andretti Autosport skipped the event.

Practice and qualifying There were two practice sessions preceding the race start on Sunday, one on Friday afternoon and one on Saturday morning. The first session on Friday afternoon ran for 90 minutes while the second session on Saturday morning ran for 105 minutes.

In the first session, Ben Barnicoat's No. 14 Lexus lapped quickest at 1 minute, 45.201 seconds. Patrick Pilet's No. 9 Pfaff Porsche was second-fastest. Antonio García was third in Corvette's No. 3 car. GTD was led by Patrick Gallagher in Turner Motorsport's No. 96 car with a 1:45.234 lap, 0.160 seconds ahead of Aaron Telitz in VSR's No. 12 Lexus. Winward's Philip Ellis was third. Frederik Schandorff's No. 70 McLaren, along with Bryan Sellers' No. 1 Paul Miller BMW were fourth and fifth. The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes of Daniel Juncadella caught fire in the pitlane in the closing minutes.

Juncadella led the final session with a lap of 1 minute, 44.539 seconds. Hawksworth was 0.030 seconds behind in second, with the No. 3 Corvette of García in third. Snow led GTD in Paul Miller's No. 1 BMW, 0.069 seconds ahead of Gallagher in Turner Motorsport's No. 96 BMW. Grenier was third in the No. 32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG. Ward placed the No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG in fourth.

Saturday’s afternoon qualifying was broken into one sessions for the GTD Pro and GTD classes, which lasted for 15 minutes. The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order.

Jack Hawksworth for VSR took his third pole position of the season, and the tenth of his career, with a time of 1 minute, 44.780 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Daniel Juncadella whose best lap in the No. 79 WeatherTech Mercedes-AMG was 0.096 seconds slower, and Antonio García drove the No. 3 Corvette to third. The Pffaf Motorsports Porsche and the No. 23 Heart Aston Martin rounded out the GTD Pro qualifiers. In GTD, snow took his second pole position of the season, and the eleventh of his career with a lap of 1 minute and 45.225 seconds. He was joined by Telitz's No. 12 Lexus on grid's the front row with his best lap being 0.153 second slower, and Loris Spinelli drove the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini to third place. Following in fourth was Skeen's No. 32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG, with Gallagher's slower No. 96 Turner BMW in fifth.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . +ClassTeamDriverTime1GTD Pro14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Jack Hawksworth1:44.780_12GTD Pro79 WeatherTech Racing Daniel Juncadella1:44.876 +0.09623GTD Pro3 Corvette Racing Antonio García1:45.133 +0.35334GTD1 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow1:45.225 +0.44545GTD12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Aaron Telitz1:45.378 +0.59856GTD78 Forte Racing powered by US RaceTronics Loris Spinelli1:45.416 +0.63667GTD32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mike Skeen1:45.447 +0.66778GTD96 Turner Motorsport Patrick Gallagher1:45.913 +1.13389GTD27 Heart of Racing Team Roman De Angelis1:45.918 +1.138910GTD Pro9 Pfaff Motorsports Patrick Pilet1:45.974 +1.1941011GTD Pro23 Heart of Racing Team Ross Gunn1:45.977 +1.1971112GTD70 Inception Racing Brendan Iribe1:46.098 +1.3181213GTD57 Winward Racing Russell Ward1:46.271 +1.4911314GTD97 Turner Motorsport Chandler Hull1:46.919 +2.1391415GTD66 Gradient Racing Sheena Monk1:47.504 +2.7241516GTD80 AO Racing Team P.J. Hyett1:47.544 +2.7641617GTD91 Kelly-Moss with Riley Alan Metni1:47.635 +2.8551718GTD77 Wright Motorsports Alan Brynjolfsson1:48.047 +3.2671819GTD92 Kelly-Moss with Riley David Brule1:49.230 +4.45019Sources:

Warm up A 20-minute morning warm-up session was held on the morning of August 27. Antonio García led GTD Pro with a lap time of 1:46.295, 0.055 seconds ahead of Jules Gounon. Frederik Schandorff set the fastest time amongst all GTD cars.

Race

Post-race The result kept Barnicoat and Hawksworth atop the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship. Bachler and Pilet advanced from fourth to third while Gounon and Juncadella dropped from third to fourth. With 2996 points, Sellers and Snow's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over De Angelis and Sørensen in the GTD Drivers' Championship. Foley and Gallagher advanced from seventh to fifth while Iribe and Schandorff dropped from third to fourth. Lexus and BMW continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Vasser Sullivan Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in their respective of Teams' Championships with two rounds remaining in the season.

Race Result Class winners are in bold and . ClassTeamDriversChassisTime/RetiredEngine1GTD Pro3 Corvette Racing Antonio García Jordan TaylorChevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD812:41:28.719Chevrolet 5.5 L V82GTD Pro14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Ben Barnicoat Jack HawksworthLexus RC F GT381 +2.068Toyota 2UR 5.0 L V83GTD 1 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers Madison SnowBMW M4 GT381 +17.261BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Turbo I64GTD96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley Patrick GallagherBMW M4 GT381 +29.448BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Turbo I65GTD57 Winward Racing Philip Ellis Russell WardMercedes-AMG GT3 Evo81 +33.223Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V86GTD97 Turner Motorsport Bill Auberlen Chandler HullBMW M4 GT381 +38.346BMW S58B30T0 3.0 L Turbo I67GTD12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Frankie Montecalvo Aaron TelitzLexus RC F GT381 +43.073Toyota 2UR 5.0 L V88GTD80 AO Racing Team P.J. Hyett Sebastian PriaulxPorsche 911 GT3 R (992)81 +44.575Porsche 4.2 L Flat-69GTD70 Inception Racing Brendan Iribe Frederik SchandorffMcLaren 720S GT3 Evo81 +48.144McLaren M840T 4.0 L Turbo V810GTD91 Kelly-Moss with Riley Kay van Berlo Alan MetniPorsche 911 GT3 R (992)81 +50.818Porsche 4.2 L Flat-611GTD77 Wright Motorsports Alan Brynjolfsson Trent HindmanPorsche 911 GT3 R (992)81 +58.899Porsche 4.2 L Flat-612GTD Pro9 Pfaff Motorsports Klaus Bachler Patrick PiletPorsche 911 GT3 R (992)81 +1:03.366Porsche 4.2 L Flat-613GTD66 Gradient Racing Katherine Legge Sheena MonkAcura NSX GT3 Evo2281 +1:05.530Acura 3.5 L Turbo V614GTD32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mikaël Grenier Mike SkeenMercedes-AMG GT3 Evo81 +1:15.565Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V815GTD Pro23 Heart of Racing Team Ross Gunn Alex RiberasAston Martin Vantage AMR GT381 +1:19.046Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V816GTD27 Heart of Racing Team Roman De Angelis Marco SørensenAston Martin Vantage AMR GT381 +1:38.403Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V817GTD Pro79 WeatherTech Racing Jules Gounon Daniel JuncadellaMercedes-AMG GT3 Evo79 +2 LapsMercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V818 DNFGTD78 Forte Racing powered by US RaceTronics Misha Goikhberg Loris SpinelliLamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 228Did Not FinishLamborghini 5.2 L V1019 DNFGTD92 Kelly-Moss with Riley David Brule Alec UdellPorsche 911 GT3 R (992)4Did Not FinishPorsche 4.2 L Flat-6Source:

Standings after the race

+GTP Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Filipe Albuquerque Ricky Taylor 2171 2 Pipo Derani Alexander Sims 2157 3 Connor De Phillippi Nick Yelloly 2098 4 Nick Tandy Mathieu Jaminet 2073 5 Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun 2053

+LMP2 Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Paul-Loup Chatin Ben Keating 1345 2 Mikkel Jensen Steven Thomas 1300 3 Ben Hanley George Kurtz 1248 4 Giedo van der Garde 1194 5 Ryan Dalziel Dwight Merriman 1182

+LMP3 Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Gar Robinson 1495 2 Matt Bell Orey Fidani 1244 3 Garett Grist 1233 4 Wayne Boyd Anthony Mantella 1218 5 João Barbosa 1143

+GTD Pro Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Ben Barnicoat Jack Hawksworth 3165 2 Antonio García Jordan Taylor 3021 3 1 Klaus Bachler Patrick Pilet 2915 4 1 Jules Gounon Daniel Juncadella 2886 5 Ross Gunn Alex Riberas 2774

+GTD Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Bryan Sellers Madison Snow 2996 2 Roman De Angelis Marco Sørensen 2621 3 1 Aaron Telitz Frankie Montecalvo 2553 4 1 Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff 2536 5 2 Robby Foley Patrick Gallagher 2298

Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

+GTP Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #10 WTR with Andretti Autosport 2171 2 #31 Whelen Engineering Racing 2157 3 #25 BMW M Team RLL 2098 4 #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 2073 5 #60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian 2053

+LMP2 Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 1345 2 #11 TDS Racing 1300 3 #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR 1248 4 #8 Tower Motorsports 1201 5 #35 TDS Racing 1194

+LMP3 Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #74 Riley Motorsports 1495 2 #13 AWA 1244 3 #30 Jr III Motorsports 1233 4 #17 AWA 1218 5 #33 Sean Creech Motorsport 1143

+GTD Pro Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing 3165 2 #3 Corvette Racing 3021 3 1 #9 Pfaff Motorsports 2915 4 1 #79 WeatherTech Racing 2886 5 #23 Heart of Racing Team 2774

+GTD Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #1 Paul Miller Racing 2996 2 #27 Heart of Racing Team 2621 3 1 #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing 2553 4 1 #70 Inception Racing 2536 5 2 #96 Turner Motorsport 2298

Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

+GTP Manufacturers' Championship standings +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Cadillac 2414 2 Acura 2379 3 Porsche 2367 4 BMW 2340

+GTD Pro Manufacturers' Championship standings +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Lexus 3165 2 Chevrolet 3021 3 1 Porsche 2915 4 1 Mercedes-AMG 2886 5 Aston Martin 2785

+GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings +/– Manufacturer Points 1 BMW 3205 2 Aston Martin 2861 3 2 Lexus 2763 4 1 McLaren 2754 5 1 Porsche 2750