Southside Virginia has been hosting some classes with a fast learning curve. Drivers and teams are finding the ins, the outs, the tricks and the lines for the picturesque straights and turns of Virginia International Raceway.

American Le Mans will be racing here in September. Five classes of cars ranging from custom shell prototypes to modified production touring cars will be mixing it up among the trees and the twists when they pull off the grid with the green flag. As this will be their first race at VIR the teams are anxious for track time to find all they can about how to get around as fast as possible. With long straight runs, hard braking, downhill bends and some narrow sections the challenge of driving here is multiplied many times with unfamiliarity.

With that in mind, ALMS has paid a few visits to VIR with a variety of their series to find what all the fuss is about concerning this road course in Virginia. NASCAR tests here. Grand-Am has raced here. SCCA and AMA race here. Movie, TV and music stars have driven here. All have fond words of praise for the experience. Now, American Le Mans takes their turn with a first visit as part of the 2012 race schedule.

This race at VIR is late in the schedule following a run on the streets of Baltimore and before the closer at Road Atlanta. This makes this race an important run for points and the teams and drivers will be going for every advantage they can find to put to use on race day. With that in mind, we made a run on VIR ourselves for one these test sessions to see how things were going.

We found they were going fairly fast. Fairly fast indeed.

We found several teams working data and setups in the garages. We caught some of the Prototype Challenge and GT Challenge drivers turning laps and running different lines on the turns and exits to find the best speed. We found one or two testing how smooth the grass is and how soft the tire barriers are…

Good things to know. Even better if that knowledge leads to a better line to stay on track for race day.

The laps and activity around VIR for testing is a tempting sneak peak to competition in September. The American Le Mans series is sometimes difficult to find on the TV schedule but make the effort and catch some laps. The racing is close and fast with great variety. Five classes out on course fighting for position and pass make for bumps, frustration and timing on every driver which sets the scene for dramatic racing.

The race weekend for American Le Mans is coming up September 13th-15th. Mark the calendar for this one because it looks to be a great time for the race fan and auto enthusiast. The pressure will be on for points with just one race on the schedule after VIR so look for speed, action and loads of color from the cars on the track to early signs of fall on the trees.

If you’ve never been to VIR, check it out online and see the many other events on the schedule.

Get familiar with American Le Mans at their website and look for race weekend at VIR in September.

Enjoy some photos from testing below!

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