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]

Track map of VIR


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 15th, 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
Further information: 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship § Entries

On August 14th, 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 .

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Gap To/Reason Retired
Engine
1 GTLM 911 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet
Nick Tandy		 Porsche 911 RSR 88 2:41:28.773
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
2 GTLM 912 Porsche GT Team Earl Bamber
Laurens Vanthoor		 Porsche 911 RSR 88 +0.737s
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
3 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García
Jan Magnussen		 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 88 +3.275s
Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8
4 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin
Tommy Milner		 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 88 +3.972s
Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8
5 GTLM 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe

Richard Westbrook

 Ford GT 88 +4.396s
Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6
6 GTLM 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Joey Hand

Dirk Müller

 Ford GT 88 +9.556s
Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6
7 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Tom Blomqvist
Connor De Phillippi		 BMW M8 GTE 88 +12.560s
BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8
8 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards
Jesse Krohn		 BMW M8 GTE 87 +1 laps
BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8
9 GTD 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Jeroen Bleekemolen
Ben Keating		 Mercedes-AMG GT3 86 +2 laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
10 GTD 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Mario Farnbacher
Trent Hindman		 Acura NSX GT3 86 +2 laps
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
11 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Cooper MacNeil
Toni Vilander		 Ferrari 488 GT3 86 +2 laps
Ferrari F154 3.9 L Turbo V8
12 GTD 9 Pfaff Motorsports Scott Hargrove

Zacharie Robichon

 Porsche 911 GT3 R 86 +2 laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
13 GTD 73 Park Place Motors Patrick Long
Patrick Lindsey		 Porsche 911 GT3 R 86 +2 laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
14 GTD 44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally
John Potter		 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 86 +2 laps
Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
15 GTD 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Townsend Bell

Frankie Montecalvo

 Lexus RC F GT3 86 +2 laps
Lexus 5.0 L V8
16 GTD 74 Lone Star Racing Lawson Aschenbach

Gar Robinson

 Mercedes-AMG GT3 86 +2 laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
17 GTD 76 Compass Racing Paul Holton
Matt Plumb		 McLaren 720S GT3 86 +2 laps
McLaren M480T 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8
18 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Corey Lewis
Bryan Sellers		 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 84 +4 laps
Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
19 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Bill Auberlen

Robby Foley

 BMW M6 GT3 83 +5 laps
BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8
20 GTD 57 Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing Katherine Legge
Alice Powell		 Acura NSX GT3 74 Did not finish
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
21 GTD 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Jack Hawksworth
Richard Heistand		 Lexus RC F GT3 63 Did not finish
Lexus 5.0 L V8


References
  1. "Porsche Wins Manufactures' Title With VIR Win". dailysportscar.com. 25 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  2. "Ford, BMW Adjusted in Latest Round of BoP Changes". sportscar365.com. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  3. "22 Entries for Michelin GT Challenge at VIR". sportscar365.com. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  4. "Powell to Make IMSA Debut in MSR Acura". sportscar365.com. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  5. Dagys, John (22 August 2019). "Starworks withdraws from VIR". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  6. "VIR IMSA: Vanthoor beats Magnussen to pole by 0.078s". motorsport.com. 24 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  7. "23-25 August 2019 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR Results -- Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). 24 August 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
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