Race No. 1 for VP Racing SportsCar Challenge at Circuit of the Americas ended in very unusual fashion. GEHBARDT Intralogistics Motorsports teammates Oscar Tunjo and Valentino Catalano dominated the race and were battling among themselves when they both ran out of fuel and dropped off the pace with just under two minutes to go.
The duo had a full minute lead over MLT Motorsports’ Jonathan Woolridge at the time, but the GEBHARDT issues allowed him to come all the way around to take the overall victory, his first overall victory in the series.
Woolridge’s margin of victory was .429 seconds over Turner Motorsport’s Jake Walker. AF Corse’s AJ Muss was third, then Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson and Matias Perez Companc in the second AF Corse Ferrari.
Woolridge’s margin of victory in class was 45.626 seconds over Forte Racing’s Brian Thienes. Mishumotors’ Mirco Schultis was third, then RAFA Racing Team’s Matthew Dicken. Tunjo was credited with fifth.
Tunjo is best known as a competitor in the European Le Mans Series’ LMP3 class, racing there for the past two years for WTM by Rinaldi Racing. He also finished second in Prototype Cup Germany in 2023 against the GEHBARDT Intralogistics Motorsports team Barely a week ago, he got the call to replace Markus Pommer with GEHBARDT at Circuit of the Americas.
The choice was a good one as Tunjo topped every practice session. He then won the pole for the race.
Tunjo started from the pole after an extra pace lap was added due to the stalled Ferrari of Dave Musial Jr. on the grid. Once the green came out, he was able to open up a small gap over Catalano, just enough to be comfortable. Meanwhile, the GEBHARDT teammates drove away from Woolridge.
For much of the race, Tunjo was able to maintain a lead of a little more than one second over Catalano. However, Catalano was able to get alongside with 20 minutes to go in traffic. Tunjo was able to hold him off and get the lead back up.
With five minutes to go, Catalano was able to run Tunjo back down and take the lead. Then, fuel came into play.
Catalano began to slow, which allowed Tunjo to run him back down and retake the lead. Then Tunjo slowed down in the Carousel. Both drivers ground to a halt coming to the white flag. The issues allowed Woolridge to make up a huge deficit and win.
In GTDX, Turner Motorsport’s Jake Walker started from pole in his BMW. However, he came under immediate attack from Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson.
Adelson, who swept the weekend at Daytona, made the move for the lead on the first lap. He was able to make it stick after side-by-side running.
Walker was able to keep tabs with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship regular and pressure him. That ultimately led Adelson to make an unforced error, spinning out while entering the Esses without being touched.
The spin gave Walker the lead back with a comfortable margin. Adelson ended up 20 seconds back in third behind AJ Muss.
Muss was not able to keep pace with Walker and dropped back. With 18 minutes to go, Muss ran into the back of Carrus Callus Raceteam’s Chris Walsh, spinning Walsh into the Tec-Pro barrier.
Walsh was able to drive his BMW M4 GT4 back to the pits, but he suffered suspension damage that ended his race. The incident was investigated, but no penalty was assessed.
Walker was able to continue to pull away from Muss to win the class easily. However, the GEBHARDT issues introduced the late possibility of overall glory.
Walker was right behind Woolridge when the GEBHARDT duo’s LMP3 prototypes ground to a halt. He was able to pressure Woolridge over the final lap, but settled for second overall.
Walker’s margin of victory in class was 15.407 seconds over Muss. Adelson finished third, then Perez Companc and ST Racing’s Samantha Tan, who won the Bronze Cup.
RAFA Racing Team’s Kiko Porto started from pole in his Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO. Once the race got underway, the former Road to Indy competitor was able to quickly pull away from BSI Racing’s Steven Clemons.
The advantage was up to 10 seconds in the early laps, then continued to increase at a rate of nearly one second a lap. That allowed Porto to take a dominant victory, his third win in a row to start the season.
Porto’s margin of victory was 25.490 seconds over Clemons. Porto’s teammate Ian Porter was third, then Swish Motorsports’ Patrick Wilmot. Justin Di Benedetto was fifth.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge: COTA Race No. 1 Results
VP Racing SportsCar Challenge teams have one more race on Saturday. That race is scheduled to go green at 6 p.m. ET after the NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Coverage will start at 5:55 p.m. ET on Peacock. By virtue of setting the fastest lap of the race and going faster than the pole time for Race No. 1, Catalano will start Race No. 2 from pole.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.