Milner and Udell win cautious race 1 at VIR – Sportscar365

Tommy Milner and Alec Udell claimed their third consecutive victory in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS during the caution-filled round at Virginia International Raceway on Saturday.

Milner drove his No. 63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R to a time of 1.654 seconds over the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Elliott Skeer after an eight-minute shootout to the finish.

Trent Hindman was third in the No. 85 RS1 Porsche, followed by the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Zach Veach in fourth.

Pro-Am class honors went to the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche of Tom Sargent and Kyle Washington, which survived a race of attrition in the category that saw all but the class winners run into trouble.

A collision between BMW factory drivers Neil Verhagen and Robby Foley, who were battling for second place in the Pro-Am at the time, resulted in a heavy accident at Turn 3 involving Foley’s No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.

It brought out the fourth full caution of the race and Verhagen was forced to pit while under the yellow flag for a loose right rear wheel.

Verhagen was later forced to serve a drive-through penalty for his responsibility in the incident with Foley, handing the class lead to GMG’s Sargent. He managed to hold off Verhagen and win the class, despite the BMW driver having served the penalty.

A fifth yellow card was issued shortly after the restart to the No. 29 ST Racing BMW of Varun Choksey, who suffered a puncture and came to a standstill on track.

Meanwhile, the pole-sitting No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Jeff Burton, which had taken an early lead in the hands of Philip Ellis, spun moments after Choksey’s incident. Burton recovered to finish third in class.

The first two cautions were for the No. 08 DXDT Corvette of Scott Smithson, which initially got stuck after a run off the track on the Esses, after which the ABS apparently failed and it seized up on the restart.

Meanwhile, the No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Elias Sabo also got stuck in the wet grass, earning him another yellow card.

Suspension issues plagued the No. 19 Esses Racing Mercedes-AMG, forcing Will Hardeman into the pits early, while the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Mercedes-AMG was unable to start the race with an electrical issue.

Race 2 starts at 2:15 p.m. EDT with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch.