2019 Oak Tree Grand Prix
The 2019 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 25, 2019. The race was the tenth round of the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the sixth round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet won the race overall in the #911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR leading home a 1-2 for Porsche who clinched the GTLM manufactures championship. In GTD, the #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen took their first win of the season. [1]
Background
This race was the second of two GT-only races on the 2019 IMSA Calendar, in which the prototype classes, Daytona Prototype international (DPi) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), would not be taking part.
On August 15, 2019, IMSA released a technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the race. In GT Le Mans, The Ford GT received a 5 kilogram weight increase, and gained 10 horsepower. The BMW M8 GTE received a 6.5 horsepower reduction and fuel capacity reduction of 1 liter. In GTD, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo and Ferrari 488 GT3 were given weight reductions of 20 and 10 kilograms respectively, while the McLaren 720S GT3 got a fuel capacity reduction of 4 liters.[2]
Entries
On August 14, 2019, the entry list for the event was released, featuring 22 cars. 8 cars were entered in GTLM, and 14 in GTD. Scott Hargrove returned to Pfaff Motorsports after Dennis Olsen and Matt Campbell filled in the previous two rounds.[3] Due to a scheduling conflict for Christina Nielsen, who was at Suzuka International Racing Course for the Suzuka 10 Hours, was replaced by Alice Powell.[4] Starworks Motorsport withdrew from the event following continued performance issues with its Audi R8 after competing at Road America.[5]
Qualifying
Laurens Vanthoor took overall pole for the event, while Zacharie Robichon was quickest in GTD. [6]
Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche GT Team | Laurens Vanthoor | 1.40.630 | _ | 1 ‡ |
| 2 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Jan Magnussen | 1.40.708 | +0.078s | 2 |
| 3 | GTLM | 67 | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Ryan Briscoe | 1.40.786 | +0.156s | 3 |
| 4 | GTLM | 66 | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Joey Hand | 1.40.956 | +0.326s | 4 |
| 5 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Oliver Gavin | 1.41.578 | +0.948s | 5 |
| 6 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche GT Team | Nick Tandy | 1.41.615 | +0.985s | 6 |
| 7 | GTLM | 24 | BMW Team RLL | John Edwards | 1.41.703 | +1.073s | 7 |
| 8 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL | Connor De Phillippi | 1.41.772 | +1.772s | 8 |
| 9 | GTD | 9 | Pfaff Motorsports | Zacharie Robichon | 1.45.826 | +5.196s ‡ | 9 |
| 10 | GTD | 12 | AIM Vasser-Sullivan | Frankie Montecalvo | 1.46.150 | +5.520s | 10 |
| 11 | GTD | 14 | AIM Vasser-Sullivan | Richard Heistand | 1.46.524 | +5.894s | 11 |
| 12 | GTD | 86 | Meyer-Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian | Trent Hindman | 1.46.697 | +6.067s | 12 |
| 13 | GTD | 57 | Heinricher Racing with Meyer-Shank | Alice Powel | 1.48.159 | +7.529s | 13 |
| 14 | GTD | 14 | Turner Motorsport | Robby Foley | 1.48.398 | +7.768s | 14 |
| 15 | GTD | 33 | Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports | Ben Keating | 1.48.476 | +7.846s | 15 |
| 16 | GTD | 44 | Magnus Racing | John Potter | 1.48.567 | +7.937s | 16 |
| 17 | GTD | 48 | Paul Miller Racing | Corey Lewis | 1.51.132 | +10.502s | 17 |
| 18 | GTD | 63 | Scuderia Corsa | Cooper MacNeil | 1.53.823 | +13.193s | 18 |
| 19 | GTD | 76 | Compass Racing | Matt Plumb | 1.54.213 | +13.583s | 19 |
| 20 | GTD | 74 | Lone Star Racing | Gar Robinson | 1.56.054 | +15.424s | 20 |
| 21 | GTD | 73 | Park Place Motorsports | Patrick Lindsey | 1.56.158 | +15.528s | 21 |
| Source:[7] | |||||||
Results
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.
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Standings after the race
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
References
- "Porsche Wins Manufactures' Title With VIR Win". dailysportscar.com. 25 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- "Ford, BMW Adjusted in Latest Round of BoP Changes". sportscar365.com. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- "22 Entries for Michelin GT Challenge at VIR". sportscar365.com. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- "Powell to Make IMSA Debut in MSR Acura". sportscar365.com. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- Dagys, John (22 August 2019). "Starworks withdraws from VIR". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- "VIR IMSA: Vanthoor beats Magnussen to pole by 0.078s". motorsport.com. 24 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- "23-25 August 2019 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR Results -- Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). 24 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved July 7, 2023.