The IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge’s opening race in its three-race event at VIRginia International Raceway served up a tasty appetizer of weekend action among its three classes, with familiar race winners in a caution-free 45-minute race.
Valentino Catalano (LMP3) and Jake Walker (GTDX) continued their recent run of form throughout the 2025 season. Both drivers won their fifth race in eight rounds this season.
There was a newer winner in GSX, with Steven Clemons surpassing a pair of RAFA Racing teammates to propel his singular #76 BSI Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 to that win. Clemons won his second race of the season, and first since the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in June.
Most of the P3 battle was settled at the start, with Catalano (#30 Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports Duqueine D08) launching away from pole position and quickly building his lead north of ten seconds. He maintained the gap from there over the 45-minute race, leading flag-to-flag to win by 21.115 seconds over new teammate Alexzander Kristiansson (#31 Gebhardt Duqueine) in his series debut.
“This track is my one of my favorites,” Catalano said after his first day at the VIR circuit. “This track is just amazing. It’s so different compared to Europe and the Esses section is amazing. You go flat out with the car and you don’t have any runoff, just grass and water. It’s just an amazing experience here in Virginia.”
GTDX saw a similar start-to-finish run from the pole to win from Walker (#6 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3). With his fifth win in the last six races, Walker continued his methodical closing on championship leader Adam Adelson (#24 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R) with a win by 7.531 seconds.
“We had a really good start and I made a pretty good pass on a P3 car going up the Esses, which helped create a gap. From there we just kept clicking off consistent laps,” Walker said. “We’re making a bit of progress (in the championship). We’ve just got to keep our head down and hope for some luck.”
The GSX battle stood out as the most intense, action-packed racing of the day among three Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2s – Clemons’ #76 BSI Toyota entry against Kiko Porto in the #8 RAFA Racing Toyota and Ian Porter in the #68 RAFA Racing Toyota.
Porto led from pole for the first 15 laps, but Clemons asserted his potential with a pass on Porter for second on lap 10. He started around the outside of turn one, then moved into the inside of turn three to complete the move.
With that move in the bank, Clemons pulled off a near identical pass for the lead on Porto six laps later on lap 16. He’d tried on lap 14, running side-by-side with Porto to almost get the lead, but was unable to pass the rapid Brazilian driver. However, two laps later he got the lead, making a similar over-under move on Porto into Turn three. From there he extended the gap to a winning margin of 4.998 seconds.
The two combatants described their battle:
“I was able to just sit back, just let them do their moves, show their cards and be able to just make moves and see what stuck and just looked at where I could attack,” Clemons said. “I know we went side-by-side a couple times. I tried on the outside once. I figured if I could get on the inside, I figured that was the lane with rubber.”
Porto added from his viewpoint: “I felt the tyres were pretty slick, and I thought it was just something related to temperature. But in the third lap, I saw my tyre pressure was already on the limit. So, in that moment, I realized we might have a problem for the long runs. And I started a second and a half slower in my own pace, then two seconds, then three seconds. When I got to three seconds, I was already defending Ian (Porter) first.
“Then once Clemons got behind me, it was just a matter of like how much time it can stay defending. But at one point it was almost risky. I tried to carry the same speed. And basically, when he had the inside of turn three, I tried to carry a little bit outside, just to stay on the outside and try something into turn four and I almost spun. And in that moment, I realized, okay, this is my limit. It’s better to bring points home than put everything in the walls.”
“It was great to see that level of clean and close racing. Yeah, we were in the limit, but never passing those limits, you know? So, it was it was very good to watch, definitely. And I would enjoy seeing this replay after!”
Each Bronze Cup winner in their respective classes finished third, with Brian Thienes (#77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P320), Samantha Tan (#38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3) and Porter (#68 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2) having clean days.
Two of Friday’s first race winners followed up with their second wins of the weekend, while the third class winner re-emerged on top after missing out on Friday.
Catalano, Walker, and Kiko Porto (GSX) all claimed their sixth wins of their seasons in their respective classes.
Catalano’s P3 drive in his #30 Gebhardt Duquiene was nearly a mirror image of Friday. The German driver led flag-to-flag from pole in a 1-2 finish for the Gebhardt team, again ahead of Kristiansson. Kristiansson pushed Catalano early in the race and came within a few tenths, but a brief off at turn 11 halted his charge. Catalano ultimately leapt out to the win by 42.439 seconds.
“We did some slight changes on the car to change a bit of balance of the car,” Catalano said. “It was tricky today because it was way warmer so the grip was way lower. In traffic, I was behind some GT4 cars and I thought I was losing so much time. But we kept pushing. It was a nice race; I’m really happy about that and extended my championship lead again.”
Walker’s drive in GTDX also matched his Friday effort. Wheeling the #6 Turner BMW, Walker reprised his Friday move of a pass on a P3 car through the Climbing Esses to get a quick and early jump on his competition. He controlled the pace from there to match his car number with his sixth win of 2025 and continue closing on championship leader Adelson, who again finished second in the #24 Wright Porsche, 4.879 seconds in arrears.
“I saw the opportunity again, and luckily the P3 car saw me pretty early on and kind of let me go,” Walker explained. “That kind of gave me some momentum to continue to work my gap. And, you know, managing the GT4 traffic is tough, but the other drivers made it easy. We made some adjustments to the car to help with the long run, and I think the track conditions also were a little bit gentler.”
The Toyota battle atop GSX this time went Porto’s way after a dynamic battle he’d had with Clemons on Friday. From pole, Porto led flag-to-flag in the #8 RAFA Racing Toyota, but not without Clemons again shading him for a majority of the race aboard the #76 BSI Toyota. Porto extended the gap to a winning margin of 2.299 seconds, noting his RAFA Racing team fixed most of whatever he thought ailed him on Friday.
“We fixed that major problem, but we’re still suffering with the minor problem that we had,” Porto said. “We roughly gained a second. I’ve been experienced on the Michelin tyres, so I know they can last long. I knew Steven was able to brake much deeper than me, so that was the biggest challenge for me. I pushed the limits as much as I could and that helped me for sure.”
Thienes and Porter repeated their Friday Bronze Cup wins on Saturday while Vincent Barletta secured the Bronze Cup win in GTDX in the #95 Turner BMW. As on Friday, each of the Bronze Cup winners finished third in their respective classes.
VP Racing Challenge competitors who were set to race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s second race are eligible to race in the third race of the VIR weekend on Sunday.
Images © Jake Galstad, Brandon Badraoui / IMSA / Lumen
