IMSA GT-only race at VIR gives Porsche 911 GT3 R a chance at overall victory

Alton, Va. The GT Challenge is the first and only time on the 2025 calendar that Porsche customer-racing GT3 machines have an opportunity at the overall victory while prototypes including the Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 wait for the next endurance round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September. Porsche is represented in the two-hour, 40-minute race by AO Racing’s pairing of former Porsche Junior drivers Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler in the GTD Pro class, and Wright Motorsports American duo of Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer in the GTD class. A stout 23 cars will be involved in the race; 10 in GTD Pro and 13 in GTD.

‟Virginia International Raceway is a favorite, with technical corners and some very high speeds to challenge the teams and the drivers,” Volker Holzmeyer, President and CEO of Porsche Motorsports North America, said. ‟We know our top-level customer programs are up for the challenge, and this week AO Racing and Wright Motorsports have a chance at an overall win without the prototypes on the track at the same time. We’ve also got high expectations across the Michelin Pilot Challenge and VP Fuels races to continue a very strong IMSA season, and wish all of our teams the best of luck at VIR.”

Heinrich and Bachler enter the weekend third in the championship, just 97 points behind the leaders. Last season, the duo teamed in the pink ‟Roxy” livery for a seventh-place finish in their first race together as co-drivers and return this year in the popular ‟Rexy” green livery. Fans at VIR saw the pink ‟Roxy” livery last season.

Adelson is performing double duty at VIR and will compete in four separate races during the weekend. In the WeatherTech 911 GT3 R, Adelson and Skeer enter the weekend sixth in the GTD class point race. Adelson will drive a Porsche 911 GT3 R solo in the VP Challenge races, where he leads the GTDX point race. This weekend’s VP Challenge event features three 40-minute sprint races – the two regularly scheduled races and a make-up race that was postponed due to inclement weather from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The race
Virginia International Raceway uses the color green in their logo, and it’s appropriate – the race track rolls through the southern Virginia hills like a park. The 17-turn layout is both historic and modern. A Porsche 550 RS driven by Bob Holbert won its class in the first race held at the track in 1957, and in 1971 Hurley Haywood and Peter Gregg co-drove to a victory in the first IMSA race at the track, in a GTU-class Porsche 914/6 for Brumos Racing. The track closed and remained dormant from 1974 to 2000, with professional sports car racing returning in 2002. In total, Porsche has 11 wins under IMSA sanction at VIR, with the most recent coming in 2022.

Live stream of the race
The race can be seen live in full on the USA Network or streaming via Peacock for U.S. residents and as a free stream on imsa.tv for viewers outside the USA and Canada. Live timing is available at scoring.imsa.com. The final two-hour, 40-minute sprint race of the season and the only one featuring the GT classes as headliner gets the green flag on Sunday, August 24 at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

Additional Porsches in the paddock at VIR
Michelin Pilot Challenge and the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge joins the headlining WeatherTech Championship at VIR, where Porsche is well represented by customer programs. Last year in Michelin Pilot Challenge, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsports pulled off a one-two sweep in the GS class. BGB Racing led the way, followed by RS1. This year, RS1 drivers Jan Heylen and Luca Mars lead the championship battle by 90 points prior to the green flag. In total, five Porsches will compete in Saturday’s race.

The VP Challenge tripleheader includes the postponed race from last week, with Adelson leading the way in a Porsche 911 GT3 R for Wright Motorsports. Adelson is the lone car in the GTDX class, joined by four Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsports in the GSX class for GT4-style machinery.

Driver comments ahead of the race
Laurin Heinrich (Porsche 911 GT3 R #77): ‟I can’t wait to go back to IMSA racing. This will be Rexy’s debut at VIR, because Roxy has done the first two races there, and now it’s Rexy’s turn! I’m looking forward to driving the green car around the green track! It’s a special moment for Klaus and I because that’s where the partnership started last year. Now he’s my full-season teammate, so doing the race with him here together again will give us the opportunity to build off of last year’s race, where we earned fourth place. We just missed out on the podium and can hopefully achieve another one or a win next week. We’re in good shape, and it should be a track that suits our car. The last few rounds were quite difficult, and now we head into the last final part of the season. Every point matters, and we’re still in the hunt for the championship. Our focus is on maximizing every race and getting every point we can.”

Klaus Bachler (Porsche 911 GT3 R #77): ‟The next event of the championship is VIR, and it’s a GT-only race. It’s really cool to be fighting for an overall IMSA victory in these GT-only weekends. At the moment, we’re sitting in third in the championship, so every moment is important to stay in the fight. It’s the first race at VIR for Rexy, and last year, it was my first race for AO with Roxy. This year, we’ll give everything to make Rexy proud and fight for the victory.”

Porsche WeatherTech Championship cars in Virginia
GTD-Pro class:
AO Racing #77: Klaus Bachler (AUT), Laurin Heinrich (DEU)

GTD class:
Wright Motorsports #120: Adam Adelson (USA), Elliott Skeer (USA)

Schedule (local time = EDT)
Friday, August 22
12:40 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.: VP Challenge Qualifying
3:05 p.m. – 4:35 p.m.: IMSA WeatherTech Free practice 1
4:55 p.m. – 5:40 p.m.: VP Challenge Race #1

Saturday, August 23
8:55 a.m. – 9:10 a.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge GS Qualifying
10:35 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.: IMSA WeatherTech Free practice 2
12:25 p.m. – 1:10 p.m.: VP Challenge Race #2
2:20 p.m. – 4:20 p.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge Race
4:55 p.m. – 5:10 p.m.: Qualifying GTD
5:20 p.m. – 5:35 p.m.: Qualifying GTD Pro

Sunday, August 24
9:35 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.: VP Challenge Race #3
2:10 p.m. – 4:50 p.m.: IMSA WeatherTech Race