IMSA: Michelin GT Challenge provides GTLM, GTD showcase at VIR - MotorSportsTalk

This weekend’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway is a good one for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship; it gives the GT Le Mans and GT Daytona classes a race to shine while the Prototype classes (Prototype & Prototype Challenge) are off for the week.

Series previews from IMSA are posted below:

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Corvette Racing takes a two-race winning streak and the points lead in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class into Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway, Round 10 of the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (live, FS1, 1:30 p.m. ET).

Virginia’s Tommy Milner looks to continue momentum from Road America, where he charged from fifth to first in the closing five minutes of the race to give the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R co-driven by Oliver Gavin its fourth victory of the season.

“I have lot of great racing memories at VIR, and it would be great to add another with our fifth win of the season in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette,” said Milner, a native of Leesburg who now resides in Ashburn. “This is a track that is really fun to drive. It’s incredibly fast, it’s flowing and has a couple of really good elevation changes. A GT-only race is a nice dynamic for us, where we have a chance for an overall win. The most important thing we can do, though, is score as many points as possible.”

After opening the season with GTLM victories in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, Milner and Gavin saw their lead trimmed during a midseason three-race winning streak by Ford Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook. The Corvette returned to the top of the victory podium at Lime Rock Park, and now leads Ford by 13 points, 264-251. Third in the points is the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, which has three podium finishes this season.

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing will be looking to rebound from the late-race disappointment at Road America in the VIR debut of the exciting Ford GT. In addition to winning three races, Westbrook and Briscoe have scored five consecutive podium finishes in the No. 67 Ford GT. Teammates Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller – seventh in the points in the No. 66 Ford GT – were GTE Pro class winners at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

Porsche North America is looking to repeat its 1-2 finish in last year’s Michelin GT Challenge. Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy return in the winning No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR, while Earl Bamber will be joined by Frederic Makowiecki in the No. 912 entry.

“Last year, Porsche celebrated a commanding double victory in Virginia, and there is no greater incentive than that,” said Pilet, who went on to capture the 2015 GTLM championship. “VIR is one of those traditional racetracks deep in the heart of America that I particularly look forward to. It’s fast and demanding, and if you make a mistake as a driver, you pay the price immediately.”

Ferrari also has a solid track record at VIR. Risi Competizione followed up an ALMS victory in 2013 by scoring a last-turn, last-lap victory in the inaugural WeatherTech Championship race in 2014. Last year, the team placed third behind the Porsches with a Ferrari 458 Italia. This year, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander will co-drive the No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE, which will race at VIR for the first time.

BMW Team RLL has new cars for the Michelin GT Challenge as well, fielding a pair of BMW M6 GTLMs. Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner are fifth in the championship in the No. 25 IHG Rewards Club M6. John Edwards and Lucas Luhr share the No. 100 BMW, and are coming off their first podium finish of the season at Road America.

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Scuderia Corsa will defend its GT Daytona (GTD) class victory in Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway with a new Ferrari and a new driver lineup.

Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan have won two races in 2016 GTD competition in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3, and hold a 15-point lead with only three races remaining entering Round 10 of the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (live, FS1, 1:30 p.m. ET).

The GTD competitors will join the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class in the two-hour, 40-minute race, the lone WeatherTech Championship event exclusively showcasing the GT classes.

“I really like VIR,” said Denmark’s Nielsen, who joined Balzan in winning GTD races at Sebring and Watkins Glen in 2016. “I think it’s a classic, old-school American circuit. There are quick corners and a quick flow, so you have to be really precise.”

While Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler won the 2015 Michelin GT Challenge in a Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia, Nielsen finished second in an Aston Martin Vantage. Teaming with Scuderia Corsa in 2016, she and Balzan have scored five podium finishes and placed in the top 10 in seven of eight races.

“We had a good result at VIR last year – it was a lot about strategy,” Nielsen said. “It will be interesting to see how our strategy will play out this year.”

Second in the standings, trailing 243-228, is the Magnus Racing tandem of Andy Lally and John Potter, who were class winners in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and at Lime Rock Park in the No. 44 Audi Tire Center/Auric Solar Audi R8 LMS GT3. Audi also has a pair of Stevenson Motorsports entries, with Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis scoring a pair of runner-up finishes in the No. 6 Stevenson Automotive Group Audi R8 LMS GT3, joined by Lawson Aschenbach and Matt Bell in the No. 9 Audi.

Alex Job Racing finished on the VIR podium last year. Mario Farnbacher returns in a new car – the No. 23 Team Seattle/Heart of Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. He and co-driver Alex Riberas have combined to capture a series-leading four TOTAL Pole Awards and were winners at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen are two-time GTD winners in 2016, coming home first at Detroit and the most recent race at Road America in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports ViperExchange.com/Cruising with the Monkey Dodge Viper GT3-R. Also competing in a Dodge Viper, Lone Star Racing returns with Dan Knox and Mike Skeen co-driving the No. 80 ACS Manufacturing entry.

Lamborghini will be making its WeatherTech Championship debut at VIR this weekend. Paul Miller Racing’s Bryan Sellers and Change Racing’s Spencer Pumpelly are TOTAL Pole Award winners this season. Sellers and Madison Snow gave the manufacturer its first podium finish by taking third at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the No. 48 Castrol Edge/Universal Industrial Sales Lamborghini Huracán GT3. Pumpelly co-drives with Corey Lewis in the No. 16 Pertamina/Monster Energy Lamborghini, while Dream Racing fields the No. 27 Lamborghini for Lawrence DeGeorge and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli.

BMW and Turner Motorsport came home victorious in 2016 from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, with Jens Klingmann and Bret Curtis winning in the new No. 96 Spectra Resources/United Steel/Valspar Paint/IHG Rewards Club BMW M6 GT3. Michael Marsal and Markus Palttala – fourth at VIR last year – share the No. 97 Alvarez & Marsal/IHG Rewards Club BMW M6 GT3.

Practice for the Michelin GT Challenge begins at 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday, August 26, with qualifying at 11:55 a.m. on Saturday. The weekend also includes the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, racing on Saturday at 1:55 p.m. ET, plus the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama.

For the fifth time in 10 rounds of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season, the three riders at the top of the championship standings shared a podium and while those points tell one story, the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit tell a slightly different tale.

SuperMotocross Power Rankings Detroit — *Cooper Webb is peaking at the right time. – Feld Motor Sports*

Chase Sexton has been all but perfect during the past 45 days with podium finishes in each of his heats and Triple Crown features. His only stumble during this period was a 10th-place finish in the Indianapolis Main. Last week, Sexton was perfect with wins in both his heat and the feature, although he needed a little help from an Aaron Plessinger mistake to take the top spot on the podium at the end of the night.

Cooper Webb finished fifth at Houston and was beginning to worry ever so slightly about his position in the points. Prior to the race in Tampa, he told NBC Sports that it was time to win and like Babe Ruth pointing to the outfield fence, Webb went out and captured it. Following that race, Webb has swept the podium and earned the red plate two weeks ago in Indianapolis. At Detroit, he added two more points on Eli Tomac as the season begins to wind down.

Tomac struggled with a stiff neck at Indianapolis and after a modest third-place showing in Detroit, he revealed he was still suffering a little. Webb and Sexton have been able to close the gap on Tomac in the past 45 days, but one of the main reasons he is so close in the points was a pair of wins that started the year. Seattle is going to be important for the defending champion because Tomac cannot afford to lose any more momentum with seven rounds remaining.

MORE: Chase Sexton inherits the win in Detroit

It appeared Jason Anderson was turning things around. He earned his fifth heat win at Detroit, which was also his sixth consecutive race (including features) in which he scored a top-five. A fall in the Detroit Main dropped him a lap off the pace and sent him home with a season-worst finish of ninth, causing a ripple effect in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings.

Justin Barcia was a huge part of the show last week in Detroit. He swapped positions with both Webb and Tomac in the middle stage of the race, which allowed Sexton to close the gap. Barcia finished fourth in that race to earn his third consecutive top-five. He’s been outside the top 10 only once in the first 10 rounds.

Adam Cianciarulo had a great start to the Main. He led a couple of laps before losing a lap and slipping back to eighth in the final rundown. That run was strong enough to elevate him three positions in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit.

450 Rankings

This Week	Driver	Percentage Points	Last Week	Diff.
1.	Chase Sexton [2 Main, 6 Heat wins]	87.00	1	0
2.	Cooper Webb [2 Main, 1 Heat win]	86.71	2	0
3.	Eli Tomac [5 Main, 6 Heat wins]	84.57	3	0
4.	Jason Anderson [5 Heat wins]	80.71	4	0
5.	Ken Roczen [1 Main, 1 Heat win]	80.50	5	0
6.	Justin Barcia [1 Heat win]	79.07	7	1
7.	Aaron Plessinger	77.14	6	-1
8.	Adam Cianciarulo	69.75	11	3
9.	Christian Craig	68.86	10	1
10.	Justin Cooper	63.90	9	-1
11.	Justin Hill	58.57	15	4
12.	Dean Wilson	51.50	12	0
13.	Colt Nichols	51.25	13	0
14.	Shane McElrath	46.86	17	3
15.	Josh Hill	46.79	16	1
16.	Benny Bloss	45.31	18	2
17.	Jared Lesher	39.00		NA
18.	Joey Savatgy	38.63	14	-4
19.	Cade Clason	37.50	21	2
20.	Grant Harlan	35.54	23	3

Supercross 450 Points

The NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings look at the past 90 days in the 250 class in order to have a balanced comparison between the East and West divisions and Hunter Lawrence has been all but perfect this year. At Detroit, he earned his fifth win of the season and kept alive a streak of podium finishes in six rounds. He tied his brother Jett Lawrence with 10 250 wins one week before the West riders take to the track for back-to-back races at Seattle, Washington and Glendale, Arizona.

The Lawrence brothers are dominating the points in each of their respective divisions, which means the remainder of the field is battling to be best in class.

In the East, that rider is Nate Thrasher, who beat Hunter in a head-to-head matchup in their heat only to finish second in the main when the majority of points were awarded. Thrasher seems to have accepted his position in the championship standings, but that doesn’t mean he won’t keep trying for wins.

Haiden Deegan showed a lot of aggression in his heat last week. He threw a couple of block passes at his teammate Jordon Smith and set up a series of events that kept Smith from making the big show while Deegan settled into second in the preliminary. Deegan was unconcerned about how he raced his teammate and would not let a little controversy keep him from celebrating his second career podium in Detroit.

Supercross 250 Points

Jeremy Martin just keeps clicking off solid results. He won his heat last week by making a pass on Deegan and Smith while they were in the heat of their battle. Martin finished fourth in the Main, which means he continues to have only one finish worse than sixth in any of the features or mains.

Smith fell one position in the points standings, but the damage was even worse in SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit. Crash damage in his heat contributed to a last-place finish in that race, for which he earned minimal points. He was not able to advance from the Last Chance Qualifier after stalling his bike in heavy traffic.

250 Rankings

This Week	Rider	Power Avg.	Last Week	Diff.
1.	Hunter Lawrence – E [5 Main, 5 Heat wins]	90.43	1	0
2.	Jett Lawrence – W [3 Main, 3 Heat wins]	90.30	2	0
3.	Nate Thrasher – E [1 Main, 3 Heat wins]	84.00	5	2
4.	Cameron McAdoo – W [1 Heat win]	79.80	9	5
5.	Haiden Deegan – E [1 Heat win]	78.21	7	2
6.	Jeremy Martin – E [2 Heat wins]	78.00	8	2
7.	Jordon Smith – E [3 Heat Wins]	76.77	4	-3
8.	Levi Kitchen – W [1 Main]	75.30	3	-5
9.	Mitchell Oldenburg – W	75.20	11	2
10.	RJ Hampshire – W [4 Heat wins]	74.50	17	7
11.	Max Anstie – E	74.43	6	-5
12.	Tom Vialle – E	72.07	12	0
13.	Max Vohland – W	71.56	10	-3
14.	Stilez Robertson – W [1 Heat win]	69.22	14	0
15.	Chris Blose – E	67.43	18	3
16.	Chance Hymas – E	67.10	15	-1
17.	Enzo Lopes – W	66.00	20	3
18.	Michael Mosiman – E	65.80	16	-2
19.	Pierce Brown – W	65.78	13	-6
20.	Phil Nicoletti – W	59.25	21	1

* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner and 90 points for each Heat and Triple Crown win, (Triple Crown wins are included with heat wins below the rider’s name). The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of riders in the field until the last place rider in each event receives five points. The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days for the 450 class and last 90 days for 250s (because of the split nature of their season).

POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 8 AT DAYTONA: Chase Sexton unseats Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 7 AT ARLINGTON: Jason Anderson narrowly trails Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 6 AT OAKLAND: Perfect night keeps Tomac first
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 5 AT TAMPA: Sexton, Cooper Webb close in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 4 AT HOUSTON: Tomac rebounds from A2 crash, retakes lead
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 3 AT ANAHEIM 2: Consistency makes Ken Roczen king
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 2 AT SAN DIEGO: Roczen moves up, Sexton falls
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1 AT ANAHEIM 1: Tomac, Jett Lawrence gain an early advantage

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