The 2019 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, on August 25, 2019. The race was the tenth round of the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the sixth round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet won the race overall in the #911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR leading home a 1-2 for Porsche who clinched the GTLM manufactures championship. In GTD, the #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen took their first win of the season.

Background

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2018. It was the sixth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2019 Oak Tree Grand Prix was the tenth of twelve sports car races of 2019 by IMSA, and it was the sixth of seven rounds held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the seventeen-turn Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia on August 25, 2019. As in previous years, it would be the second of two GT-only rounds of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, in which only the GTLM and GTD classes competed.

On August 15, 2019, IMSA released a technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the race. In GT Le Mans, The Ford GT received a 5 kilogram weight increase, and gained 10 horsepower. The BMW M8 GTE received a 6.5 horsepower reduction and fuel capacity reduction of 1 liter. In GTD, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo and Ferrari 488 GT3 were given weight reductions of 20 and 10 kilograms respectively, while the McLaren 720S GT3 got a fuel capacity reduction of 4 liters.

Before the race, Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 248 points, 14 points ahead of Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy in second followed by Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook with 230 points in third. In GTD, Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman led the Drivers' Championship with 209 points; the duo held a thirty-six point advantage over Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley in second. Porsche an Acura were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Porsche GT Team and Meyer Shank Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries

A total of 21 cars took part in the event split across two classes. 8 cars were entered in GTLM, and 13 in GTD. In GTD, Scott Hargrove returned to Pfaff Motorsports after Dennis Olsen and Matt Campbell filled in the previous two rounds. Due to a scheduling conflict for Christina Nielsen, who was at Suzuka International Racing Course for the Suzuka 10 Hours, was replaced by Alice Powell. Starworks Motorsport withdrew from the event following continued performance issues with its Audi R8 after competing at Road America. No changes happened in GTLM.

Practice There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday morning lasted one hour while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted one hour. The third on Saturday morning lasted one hour.

Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 11:45 am ET on Friday and ended with Laurens Vanthoor topping the charts for Porsche GT Team, with a lap time of 1:41.296. Nick Tandy was second fastest in the sister No. 911 Porsche followed by Ryan Briscoe's No. 67 Ford GT in third position. Dirk Müller in the No. 66 Ford GT was fourth fastest and Jan Magnussen's No. 3 Corvette rounded out the top five. The GTD class was topped by the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Ben Keating with a time of 1:44.336. Patrick Long was second fastest in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche followed by Andy Lally in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini in third position. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM912Porsche GT TeamLaurens Vanthoor1:41.296_2GTLM911Porsche GT TeamNick Tandy1:41.435 +0.1393GTLM67Ford Chip Ganassi RacingRyan Briscoe1:41.478 +0.182Sources:

Practice 2 The second practice session took place at 4:30 PM ET on Friday and ended with Patrick Pilet topping the charts for Porsche GT Team, with a lap time of 1:41.234. Antonio García was second fastest in the No. 3 Corvette followed by Earl Bamber in the No. 912 Porsche in third. Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 Ford GT was fourth fastest and Jesse Krohn's No. 24 BMW rounded out the top five. The GTD class was topped by the No.14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth with a time of 1:43.783. Robby Foley was second fastest in the No. 96 BMW followed by Bryan Sellers in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini in third position. The session was disrupted when the No. 44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini of Andy Lally stopped on track with a mechanical problem. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM911Porsche GT TeamPatrick Pilet1:41.234_2GTLM3Corvette RacingAntonio García1:41.324 +0.0903GTLM912Porsche GT TeamEarl Bamber1:41.337 +0.103Sources:

Practice 3 The third and final practice session took place at 8:35 am ET Saturday was held on a wet track. Vanthoor's No. 912 Porsche lapped fastest at 2:00.631, ahead of Nick Tandy in the No. 911 Porsche. Joey Hand was third in the No. 66 Ford GT followed by Connor De Phillippi's No. 25 BMW in fourth, and Magnussen's No. 3 Corvette rounded out the top five. GTD was led by Jeroen Bleekemolen's No. 33 Mercedes-AMG with a lap of 2:03.544. Lally was second-fastest and had the categories fastest time for most of the session. Richard Heistand was third fastest in the No. 14 Lexus followed by Toni Vilander's No. 63 Ferrari in fourth. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM912Porsche GT TeamLaurens Vanthoor2:00.631_2GTLM911Porsche GT TeamNick Tandy2:00.938 +0.3073GTLM66Ford Chip Ganassi RacingJoey Hand2:01.262 +0.631Sources:

Qualifying

Saturday's early afternoon qualifying session was divided into two groups that lasted 15 minutes each. Cars in GTD were sent out first and, after a ten-minute interval, GTLM vehicles drove onto the track. All cars were required to be driven by one participant and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap. IMSA then arranged the grid so that the GTLM field started in front of all GTD cars. The session took place on a damp track but dried out as it progressed.

The first was for cars in the GTD class. Zacharie Robichon in the No. 9 Porsche was fastest on the car's final lap timed lap with a time of 1 minute and 45.826 seconds to clinch his second pole position of the season. He was joined by Frankie Montecalvo's No. 12 Lexus on the grid's front row with his best lap being 0.324 seconds slower, and Richard Heistand drove the No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus to third place. Trent Hindman qualified the No. 86 Acura fourth, ahead of Alice Powell's fifth placed Acura.

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 912 Porsche clinched his second pole position of the season. The No. 3 Corvette of Magnussen 0.078 seconds off the pace in second. The two Fords were third and fourth (the No. 67 car driven by Briscoe in front of the No. 66 vehicle of Hand). Oliver Gavin's No. 4 Corvette completed the top five category qualifiers. Tandy was sixth after spinning at turn twelve, and made contact with the barrier leaving damage on the left side. The two BMW Team RLL cars rounded out the GTLM field.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM912 Porsche GT Team Laurens Vanthoor1.40.630_1 2GTLM3 Corvette Racing Jan Magnussen1.40.708 +0.07823GTLM67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe1.40.786 +0.15634GTLM66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Joey Hand1.40.956 +0.32645GTLM4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin1.41.578 +0.94856GTLM911 Porsche GT Team Nick Tandy1.41.615 +0.98567GTLM24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards1.41.703 +1.07378GTLM25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi1.41.772 +1.77289GTD9 Pfaff Motorsports Zacharie Robichon1.45.826 +5.196910GTD12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Frankie Montecalvo1.46.150 +5.5201011GTD14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Richard Heistand1.46.524 +5.8941112GTD86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Trent Hindman1.46.697 +6.0671213GTD57 Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing Alice Powell1.48.159 +7.5291314GTD96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley1.48.398 +7.7681415GTD33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Ben Keating1.48.476 +7.8461516GTD44 Magnus Racing John Potter1.48.567 +7.9371617GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Corey Lewis1.51.132 +10.5021718GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Cooper MacNeil1.53.823 +13.1931819GTD76 Compass Racing Matt Plumb1.54.213 +13.5831920GTD74 Lone Star Racing Gar Robinson1.56.054 +15.4242021GTD73 Park Place Motorsports Patrick Lindsey1.56.158 +15.52821Sources:

The No. 48 Paul Miller Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for change tires during qualifying. The No. 63 Scuderia Corsa entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for change tires during qualifying. The No. 76 Compass Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for change tires during qualifying. The No. 74 Lone Star Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for change tires during qualifying. The No. 73 Park Place Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for change tires during qualifying.

Race

Post-race The final results of GTLM kept Bamber and Vanthoor atop the Drivers' Championship with 280 points, but their advantage had been reduced by three as the victory of Pilet and Tandy meant the two drivers were eleven points behind. García and Magnussen's strong result allowed the duo to move into third while Briscoe and Westbrook fell to fourth as a result of finishing in fifth place. The final results of GTD meant Farnbacher and Hindman extended their advantage to 37 points as Robichon took over second position. Montecalvo and Bell advanced from fifth to fourth while Auberlen and Foley dropped from second to third. Porsche and Acura continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Porsche GT Team and Meyer Shank Racing kept their respective advantages in their Teams' Championships with two rounds left in the season.

Race results Class winners are denoted in bold and .