GS Points Leaders Seek Bounce Back from Abnormal Road America Results
By Tony DiZinno
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) championship leaders look to rebound from abnormal Road America results for the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix at VIRginia International Raceway.
Robert Noaker will share the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 with new co-driver Finn Wiebelhaus starting at VIR. The No. 13 car has finished in the top 11 in each of the first seven races and built its championship lead from 30 points to 100 entering VIR. Ford scored a pair of podiums at VIR last year in the hands of KohR Motorsports, finishing second and third behind eventual season champions Luca Mars and Jan Heylen in the RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.
Each of the top five in the championship all finished seventh or worse in the Road America 120. That brought a sixth possible GS title contender into play, in the form of series newcomers Car Blanche and Road America winners Trenton Estep and Allen Patten in their No. 66 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO.
The second consecutive first-time GS winners have ascended to sixth and only 190 points out of the lead. A second successive win would propel this team even closer to the front of the pack only a handful of races after debuting at Watkins Glen International following an acquisition of van der Steur Racing.
But winning this season has not necessarily been a good thing for GS winners in their next race. In an odd quirk, the results for GS winners in their next race, starting at Sebring, have been 29th, ninth, second, fourth, 21st and 28th, for an average 15th place finish. The gap from first to 15th place in IMSA’s scoring system is, conveniently, 190 points.
Mars and Dillon Machavern rebounded with a seventh place in their No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO to jump back to second in points. They’re tied with fellow BMW runners Stevan McAleer and Austin Krainz in their No. 27 AutoTechnic Racing BMW and 10 points clear of fourth-placed Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky in the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4. Winward Racing’s Bryce Ward completes the top five, 160 back, in his No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT GT4.
Touring Car (TCR) has, on paper, been a bit more straightforward. The Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris pair secured their sixth podium from seven 2026 starts aboard the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR. They hold a 150-point lead on teammates Preston Brown and Denis Dupont, who share the No. 76 Hyundai.
Two other pairs are a further 150 points back of Brown and Dupont, in Karl Wittmer and LP Montour (No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR) and last year’s champion Harry Gottsacker along with his co-driver Lance Bergstein (No. 18 Herta Hyundai). Either or both of these two need a big VIR result to make inroads on the Nos. 33 and 76 cars, which appear set to vie for the title in the last three races.
Among the 42 cars split 29 GS and 13 TCR, there are several other changes. CarBahn’s No. 39 car is absent this race. CSM now switches to Aston Martin for its two entries, and its second car features Ismaeel Ellahi graduating from IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge alongside Ayrton Houk. Kingpin Racing makes its second start of 2026 with Patrick Wilmot and Tyler Hoffman. Celso Neto and Eddie Gou, who finished second in TCR at Road America in the No. 55 Gou Racing w/Stallion Audi RS3 LMS TCR, switch to the No. 77 Stallion Motorsports w/GOU Cupra Leon VZ TCR this race.
There are two one-hour practice sessions Friday, with qualifying Saturday morning and the Saturday race at 2:15 p.m. ET and local time. It streams on Peacock and ad-free, courtesy of Michelin, on the IMSA YouTube channel.
Fast Facts
Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix
VIRginia International Raceway – Alton, Virginia
Aug. 21-22, 2026
Race Day/Time: Saturday, Aug. 22, 2:15 p.m. ET
Live Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 2:10 p.m., Peacock in the U.S., globally on IMSA YouTube ad-free courtesy of Michelin
Circuit Type: 3.27-mile, 17-turn road course
Classes Competing: Grand Sport (GS), Touring Car (TCR)
Race Length: Two hours
Michelin Pilot Challenge Track Records
- GS: Nate Cicero, Ford Mustang GT4, 1:52.482 / 104.656 mph, August 2025 (Qualifying)
- TCR: Bryson Morris, Hyundai Elantra N TCR, 1:54.943 / 102.415 mph, August 2025 (Qualifying)
2025 Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix Winners
- GS: Luca Mars/Jan Heylen, No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS
- TCR: Luke Rumberg/Jaden Conwright, No. 31 RVA Graphics by Speed Syndicate Motorsports Audi RS3 LMS TCR
Storylines
- GS Title Battle: There’s 190 points covering the top six cars in class, with all of the top five seeking a bounce back result from the last race at Road America.
- Herta Hyundais vs. VIR: The Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCRs frequently find their way to victory lane. But they haven’t done so at VIR since 2022, as Audi and Honda have combined to win the last three here in TCR. The Nos. 33 and 76 Hyundais sit 1-2 in the championship and along with their teammates in the Nos. 98 and 18 cars, seek to end that relative drought.
Who’s Hot?
- No. 66 Car Blanche and No. 46 Team TGM in GS: Consistently big results are hard to find in GS but these two teams are leading the way the last two races. Car Blanche’s Aston Martin has a fifth, fourth and first in the last three races with the No. 46 Team TGM Ford Mustang GT4 of Matt Plumb and Paul Holton finally hitting its stride with fifth and second place finishes the last two races.
- No. 33 Herta in TCR: The TCR championship leaders have six podiums in seven starts this season.
Who’s Good Here?
- Porsche in GS: A Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS has won three of the last five GS races at VIR with three different teams: Wright Motorsports, BGB Motorsports and RS1.
- Audi in TCR: Audi has won two of the last three VIR races in TCR. A win by any TCR Audi this year would complete the set of 18 participating OEMs in IMSA winning at least once in 2026 across all of the IMSA-sanctioned series.
- Hugh Plumb: A four-time VIR winner, the driver of the No. 64 Team TGM Ford Mustang GT4 also leads the GS Bronze Cup with Ted Giovanis by just 10 points over the surging Owen Trinkler and Dan Ammann in their No. 91 VRC Motorsports Group LLC Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS. Coincidentally, Plumb’s most recent VIR win came co-driving with Trinkler in GS in 2018.