IMSA - Paul Miller Racing BMW Repeats Win at VIR, This Time in GTD PRO Class

Paul Miller Racing drivers Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers made it back-to-back wins at VIRginia International Raceway – this time in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class – with Sunday’s victory in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.

Snow drove the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 across the finish line 3.368 seconds ahead of Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Ford Mustang GT3. It’s the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO win for the Paul Miller team since it advanced to the class after winning the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) championship last year. It’s also the first win for PMR, Snow and Sellers since they won at VIR a year ago.

Starting from the pole position he earned in qualifying a day earlier, Snow was the last of the leaders to pit, turning the No. 1 BMW over to Sellers an hour into the two-hour, 40-minute race. Snow jumped back into the car during the final stop with just under an hour to go and, once the leading No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 served a drive-through penalty for not meeting the minimum refueling time requirements, Snow and the No. 1 regained the lead and control to the checkered flag.

The second-place finish for Rockenfeller, co-driver Harry Tincknell and the No. 64 Mustang marked the first podium finish for Ford since re-entering WeatherTech Championship competition this season. The No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, with drivers Alex Riberas and Ross Gunn, recovered from the penalty to finish third.

In GTD, the No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 claimed the team’s first WeatherTech Championship win behind co-drivers Kenton Koch and Mikael Grenier. Koch was among the first to pit in the race, and the undercut helped the No. 32 overtake the pole-sitting No. 55 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 for a lead that Koch and Grenier never relinquished.

The No. 32 finished 0.897 seconds ahead of the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin shared by Zacharie Robichon and Roman De Angelis. Loris Spinelli, in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, churned past four other GTD competitors following a restart with 22 minutes to go to nab third place in the car he shared with Misha Goikhberg.

Results are HERE