Stout streaks to victory, leading home a strong field in the USGTC at VIR.
Jim Stout (GT-1) has continued his Saturday winning streak, taking the win in race one in the US GT Championship presented by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney at Virginia International Raceway (Alton, VA).
A strong 23 car field took the green after multiple late entries. The revised field comprised of a variety of marques including Corvette, Pontiac, Porsche, Viper, and Volkswagen.
Driving the Coastal Pet / Cool Shirt® sponsored Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, Stout was in a class of his own, lapping around one second clear of his nearest competitor.
Behind Stout, Russ Oasis (GT-1), who had shown tremendous speed in practice and qualified second in class, soon fell into the clutches of another World Challenge driver to join the ranks of the USGTC, Michael Hartley.
It was Hartley's first time at the VIR track and by his own admission he'd been slowly progressing in each of the practice sessions. While he couldn't match Oasis in qualifying, he was quicker when it counted.
Hartley made his way past Oasis to take second overall and second in the GT-1 class, while Oasis completed the podium to finish third in GT-1.
After starting off the back of the grid Sonny Whelen stormed his way through the field, following issues in qualifying.
His Whelen Engineering / Marsh Racing Corvette set the fifth fastest lap of the race.Sonny passed 17 cars, including 6 on the first lap alone, to be the first GT-Unlimited car across the line, and finish fourth overall. He was also the first Corvette home.
It was Sonny Whelen's first class win in the US GT Championship's premier class, allowing the fastest GT cars in the country to compete.
His son, George Whelen, in the sister Marsh Racing Corvette wasn't so lucky. A differential failure took him out of contention on lap 3.
David McNeil finished fifth overall to take 2nd in GT-Unlimited. The final step of the GT-U podium was taken by Tom Leonard in his striking orange Corvette C6.
Tom Antonelli capitalized on arch-rival Steve Loudin's misfortune to take the win in GT-2, after losing out as the green flag waved.
The All Chicago Fleet Maintenance driver dropped half a dozen places at the start after missing a shift, but Antonelli knuckled down and progressed back up through the field.
Loudin looked certain to take the win after qualifying a second clear of Antonelli and running strong early in the race. On lap 7, however, a piece of front bumper came loose and began to cut into the Tricel Racing driver's front left tire. Huge plumes of smoke bellowed from the wheel well for two laps before Loudin entered the pits, with his race effectively over. He managed to return to the track, but only to take the checker.
Loudin's demise promoted Kathy Stout into 2nd in the GT-2 class, after possibly her best race of the season. Starting 15th, Kathy pushed hard to make up multiple positions, overtaking fellow GT-2 driver Lee Saunders to demote him to 3rd in class.
Race two of the USGTC presented by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney weekend at Virginia International Raceway is due to take place shorty.
All the action from the weekend is being captured using GoPro cameras by the Internal Production Group and will be broadcast later this year on GoRacingTV.com, hosted by motorsport television personality Tom Hnatiw.
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07-10-2011, 08:59 PM
