Race fans in Virginia should consider themselves quite lucky. The variety and class of racing events that come through are a true showcase of motorsports. NASCAR brings the CUP show to Richmond and Martinsville and sanctions weekly events at short tracks all over the state. However, for natural beauty mixed with speed and diversity, we have Virginia International Raceway.

Dominion in Northern VA does boast a road course but it is smaller and a bit confined. Another facility is over the northern state line. Summit Point in West Virginia, between Winchester and Charles Town, is also a really nice driving track with a lot to offer.

Virginia International Raceway is, as described by legends such as Carroll Shelby, Paul Newman and certain British TV car show personalities, a beautiful jewel of automotive paradise. Since the resurrection and rebirth of the track from the original to the current, VIR has managed to place its name into big series race schedules. Grand-Am, Moto-America, F3/F4, GT World Challenge are all taking up slots. Vintage shows and state of the art exotic racing make their way into the paddock and onto the track. The top tier may be the IMSA WeatherTech Series. They have been a part of the VIR schedule for quite a while with American Le Mans and the transition to IMSA as it is now.

The 2023 schedule is out and VIR is, again, on for August. The event for 2022 gave us variety of cars and racing with good, sunny weather to run it in. The support series of Lamborghini Trofeo and Mazda MX5 put great competition numbers on the track. The LMP3 Prototype Challenge showcased speed and big power challenges on the twisty, paved hillside. The Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix – Michelin Pilot Challenge highlighted Saturday with the Michelin GT WeatherTech Sports Car Championship on track to close out Sunday and the weekend.

We are fortunate to have a place like VIR to bring this type of showcase racing to Virginia. It was almost lost. It is the dedication and work of the current owners and all who have been on the team from the relaunch to the present that have made it possible. The track sat practically forgotten except for a handful of “trespassers” doing hot lap joy rides during the off years. The history is deep and the story of it coming back to such prominence is inspiring. It is a proud place to visit.

*Now… If something could be done about the Pagoda Grill… Sorry… But it needs to be said. It is the flat tire slowing everything else down… This is not to be confused with the Oak Tree Tavern which is in a beautiful, historic structure and offers a tasty, delightful menu with nice scenery. This is the Pagoda, right on the paddock. Expect long lines and less than fantastic food for prices that should boast much better results. Get some food trucks. Expand the offerings. Bring it up to speed to match the reputation of the rest of the facility… Please.

Back to the track and racing. That’s why we’re there. Food isn’t everything… Right…?

Photos of much of the action are linked up below also showing the top three finishers of the events 2022 events at Virginia International Raceway:

Michelin GT Challenge at VIR – IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship – PHOTO GALLERY

Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix – IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge – PHOTO GALLERY

IMSA Prototype Challenge – VIR LMP3 – PHOTO GALLERY

IMSA Lamborghini Trofeo – VIR Lamborghini America – PHOTO GALLERY

IMSA Mazda MX5 – VIR Mazda – PHOTO GALLERY

It’s on! Temperatures are a little chilly for Florida but the racing is set to roll with the sun. Rain is not in the forecast for Daytona and the ROLEX 24 is on the grid with 61 entries over 5 classes. The driver list is deep with talent from across the motorsport spectrum. Once again, to get up to speed on who is driving what and how the colors and numbers play out, get the Official ROLEX 24 Spotter’s Guide from Andy Blackmore Designs!

Racing has already begun with IMSA as the Michelin Pilot Challenge / BMW M Endurance Challenge raced Friday, January 28. Porsche made a big appearance with their 718 Cayman GT4 placing 3 spots in the top 5 including the win with the #28 RS1 team in the Grand Sport class. Turner popped their #95 and #96 M4 machines in the third and fifth slots.

In the Touring class, KMW took the checkers with their #5 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce with spots two and three going to the Bryan Herta Hyundai teams.

Saturday racing will begin with the IMSA Prototype Challenge set for Saturday morning. For watching the ROLEX 24, the options present variety and choice. Flag to flag coverage is available on Peacock, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. An active subscription to a cable provider or a nominal fee may be required to watch this way. Broadcast times vary across standard NBC or USA TV.

Yes. Yes it is a bit confusing and just a little frustrating as NBC shut down NBCSN in favor of Peacock and the app pay gates. On the other hand, it is not expensive and their is a large variety of programming outside of IMSA.

Catch what you can as the ROLEX 24 goes green with the IMSA / WeatherTech schedule for 2022!

It was a bit of a wait from August. As it happens, Virginia International Raceway in October is actually quite fantastic. It may have been a “one off” as the 2022 schedule has the date for VIR and the IMSA weekend back in the throws of August. For 2021, the date was moved to October as Le Mans (yeah, the French one) was moved and conflicted with some IMSA drivers to drive. To accommodate IMSA involvement with Le mans, the VIR date was shifted.

For next year (2022) the date is back to August. For this one, October brought cooler temperatures across the weekend. Rain, always a possibility, brought a threat and did fall on some practices and qualifying late Friday and early Saturday but did pull back for the racing.

The IMSA WeatherTech Micheln GT put a bit of a boxing match on for GTLM. The Corvettes and the WeatherTech Porsche threw bumpers and fenders at each other as the #79 Porsche pushed to the front. Kevin Estre in the Porsche could not sustain the lead against the recharge of Nick Tandy in the #4 Corvette. The Porsche later lost traction and skidded off to finish behind the Corvettes. The GTD class started with what looked like a run away for the Turner BMW #96. In the closing laps, the #3 GTLM Corvette went a bit loose when getting past the Turner BMW which bumped the #96 off allowing the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche to get on the GTD lead and take the win in the class.

Sunday could have been “Stevan McAleer Day” as he ran in the Prototype Challenge and the Michelin Pilot Virginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix. McAleer went wide at “Oak Tree” on the final lap in the #43 Robillard Racing Duqueine D08 which opened the path for Rasmus Lindh in the #6 Motel 6 Ligier JS P320. Some side by side down the back straight put McAleer off at and out at turn 14 while Lindh went on for the #6 win. In the Michelin Pilot race, McAleer was in the #23 Notlad Racing / RS1 Aston Martin and racing out front but Jan Heylen managed to get the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche around him for the lead and win.

CLICK HERE for Full Gallery of photos from Saturday October 9 at VIR

CLICK HERE for Full Gallery of photos from Sunday October 10 at VIR

We’re less than one month away from WeatherTech/IMSA at Virginia International Raceway. The original schedule for the race in August was shuffled to allow drivers and teams to participate at LeMans for the big 24 hour race. So… With October just on the horizon, it would be good to get up to speed on who is running and who is winning. The Daytona Prototypes and LeMans Prototype 2 will not run at VIR, leaving the GT LeMans and GT Daytona classes to race without having to keep eyes out for the larger cars.

However, with racing still to go, it should be noted the top 3 teams in DPi are all within one race in points to be on top. The top 3 in LMP2 are racing practically the same. One race can easily blow the points up and change the game for any of these teams. We won’t see these at VIR but it’s good to catch up.

For GTLM, it’s pretty much a race of Porsche against the Corvettes. The WeatherTech Porsche team got a much needed win at Road America. It was their 2nd win of the season but the Corvettes grabbed it again at Laguna Seca. The Corvettes have notched 5 wins so far.

The GTD class has more diversity but the the top 4 are also running close and within 100 points. The Turner BMW team is currently leading but the PFAFF Porsche team grabbed 2 recent wins and is moving up with Heart of Racing / Aston Martin team has recently fallen back to 3rd overall. Paul Miller Racing and their Lambo is still in the hunt at 4th in points.

The Michelin Pilot Challenge classes of Grand Sport and Touring combine a much larger field of manufacturers and teams. The Turner BMWs are out in front of the GS group with the Winward AMG and Wright Porsche following and within points. The Touring class has the Hyundai / Bryan Herta Autosport #77 on top with another Herta Hyundai chasing up. The KMW/TMR Alpha Romeo team and the Atlanta Speedwerks Honda are chasing up.

VIR will also host the Prototype Challenge featuring the LeMans P3 classes. Muehlner Motorsports #21 is leading the field with #54 MLT Motorsports on the bumper 10 points behind. Conquest Racing #61 is leading in the P3-2 class.

Porsche Carrera Cup North America will also be running events at Virginia International Raceway. All the drivers will be competing in identical spec 911 GT3 Cup Cars so the track will be putting driver skill on the line.

October 8-10 offers up a full weekend of racing and sportsmanship with variety and speed on the full course at Virginia International Raceway. Check IMSA online and VIR online for schedules and tickets!