| ALTON, Va. – IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge competitors turned in their second caution-free 45-minute race of the three-race weekend at VIRginia International Raceway. Two of Friday’s first race winners followed up with their second wins of the weekend, while the third class winner re-emerged on top after missing out on Friday. Valentino Catalano (Le Mans Prototype 3, P3), Jake Walker (Grand Touring Daytona X, GTDX) and Kiko Porto (Grand Sport X, GSX) all claimed their sixth wins of their seasons in their respective classes. Catalano’s P3 drive in his No. 30 Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports Duqueine D08 was nearly a mirror image of Friday. The Italian driver led flag-to-flag from pole in a 1-2 finish for the Gebhardt team, again ahead of Alexzander Kristiansson. Kristiansson pushed Catalano early in the race and came within a few tenths, but a brief off at Turn 11 halted his charge. Catalano ultimately leapt out to the win by 42.439 seconds. “We did some slight changes on the car to change a bit of balance of the car,” Catalano said. “It was tricky today because it was way warmer so the grip was way lower. In traffic, I was behind some GT4 cars and I thought I was losing so much time. But we kept pushing. It was a nice race; I’m really happy about that and extended my championship lead again.” |
| Walker’s drive in GTDX also matched his Friday effort. Wheeling the No. 6 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, Walker reprised his Friday move of a pass on a P3 car through the climbing esses to get a quick and early jump on his competition. He controlled the pace from there to match his car number with his sixth win of 2025 and continue closing on championship leader Adam Adelson, who again finished second in the No. 24 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), 4.879 seconds in arrears. “I saw the opportunity again, and luckily the P3 car saw me pretty early on and kind of let me go,” Walker explained. “That kind of gave me some momentum to continue to work my gap. And, you know, managing the GT4 (GSX) traffic is tough, but the other drivers made it easy. We made some adjustments to the car to help with the long run, and I think the track conditions also were a little bit gentler.” |
| The Toyota battle atop GSX this time went Porto’s way after a dynamic battle he’d had with Steven Clemons on Friday. From pole, Porto led flag-to-flag in the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2, but not without Clemons again shading him for a majority of the race aboard the No. 76 BSI Racing Toyota. Porto extended the gap to a winning margin of 2.299 seconds, noting his RAFA Racing team fixed most of whatever he thought ailed him on Friday. “We fixed that major problem, but we’re still suffering with the minor problem that we had,” Porto said. “We roughly gained a second. I’ve been experienced on the Michelin tires, so I know they can last long. I knew Steven was able to brake much deeper than me, so that was the biggest challenge for me. I pushed the limits as much as I could and that helped me for sure.” Brian Thienes (No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P320, P3) and Ian Porter (No. 68 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2, GSX) repeated their Friday Bronze Cup wins on Saturday while Vin Barletta secured the Bronze Cup win in GTDX in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. As on Friday, each of the Bronze Cup winners finished third in their respective classes. VP Racing Challenge competitors who were set to race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s second race are eligible to race in the third race of the VIR weekend on Sunday. The CTMP Race 2 Makeup goes green at 9:30 a.m. ET Sunday, with coverage via Peacock, IMSA.TV and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel. |
