Dane Cameron and Markus Palltala scored their second consecutive GTD class win in the #94 Turner Motorsport Z4 in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship race at Virginia International Raceway. The 2 3/4 hour race was for GT cars only; the prototypes did not run.
John Edwards and Dirk Müller finished third overall and third in the GTLM class in the #56 BMW Team RLL Z4, just ahead of their teammates Bill Auberlen and Andy Priaulx in Z4 #55. The overall and GTLM wins went to Ferrari 458 racers Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer. Their win, which was the second consecutive class victory for the Risi Competizione Ferrari, was the result of a close late-race battle between Fisichella and Wolf Henzler in the Falken Tire Porsche that he shared with Bryan Sellers. The race came down to a six minute shootout after a yellow flag period; Fisichella passed Henzler on the last lap of the race for the win; Edwards finished on the Porsche’s tail.
Cameron took the GTD lead from Porsche racer Damien Faulkner with 45 minutes left in the race, and held on for the win, deflecting a challenge by Alessandro Balzan in the #81 Ferrari 458 that he co-drove with Jeff Westphal.
Corvette’s Antonio Garcia, who leads GTLM drivers’ points after VIR, finished seventh. He shared the car with Jordan Taylor, as his regular co-driver Jan Magnussen was declared ineligible to race after being shaken up in a practice crash on Saturday. Viper racers Jon Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer are second in points, while all four Team RLL BMW racers are tied for third along with Viper’s Dominic Farnbacher and Marc Goosens.
Dane Cameron’s win propels him into a five-way tie for first in GTD drivers’ points with Alex Job Porsche’s Cooper Macneil and Leh Keen, and AIM Autosport Ferrari’s Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell.
Two races remain in the season. The series runs next at Circuit of the Americas on September 20 and then closes the season with the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on October 4.—Brian S. Morgan
