ALTON, Virginia (August 18, 2026) – One race can change a championship quickly. Paul Miller Racing arrived at Road America with a 108-point lead in GTD PRO. Two weeks later, just 15 points separate Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen from their closest rivals.
That is the situation heading into this weekend’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway, where the championship enters its final three races with very little separating the leading contenders.
Paul Miller Racing remains first with 2,142 points, followed by the No. 4 Corvette pairing of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner on 2,127. The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche sits another six points back at 2,121. Across the top three, the difference is only 21 points.
After a season built largely on collecting points consistently, the mathematics now become difficult to ignore. Qualifying matters before Sunday’s race has even started.
A position gained or lost in the race can change the order in the standings, and with only VIR, Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans remaining, there is increasingly less time to recover from a difficult weekend.
Road America was proof of how quickly the picture can change. The No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO entered the weekend with a comfortable advantage but left Wisconsin with the championship compressed around it.
The response now is not to reinvent what has worked all season, but to keep extracting points from every opportunity available.
VIR adds another element to that fight. For the only time this season, the WeatherTech Championship race will feature GT cars exclusively, with 10 GTD PRO and 13 GTD entries making up the 23-car field.
GTP and LMP2 machinery will not be part of the race, removing the faster prototype traffic that normally has to be managed throughout a multi-class event.
IMSA competitors also expect the GT-only format to reduce some of the interruptions that can reshape a race, placing greater emphasis on sustained pace and how the cars perform across longer green-flag runs.
That does not necessarily make the 2-hour, 40-minute race simpler. It simply changes where the pressure comes from. There are fewer outside variables, while the cars fighting for the same championship share the track from start to finish.
VIR has also been a productive venue for Paul Miller Racing over the years. The team finished second in 2021 and third in 2022 before winning in consecutive seasons in 2023 and 2024.
Verhagen added another strong qualifying performance at the circuit last year, putting the No. 1 BMW second on the grid before the race ended with a sixth-place finish.
The circumstances are considerably different twelve months later. Paul Miller Racing arrives this time as the championship leader, with every session carrying consequences beyond the individual weekend.
Even Saturday’s qualifying result has the potential to alter the points situation before the field lines up for Sunday’s race.
The 3.27-mile VIR Full Course combines 17 corners with significant elevation changes, and Paul Miller Racing still holds the GTD PRO qualifying record at the circuit. Madison Snow set the benchmark at 1:43.206 in the BMW M4 GT3 in August 2024.
IMSA’s GT-only weekend puts that same circuit at the center of one of the closest championship fights of the season.
VIR is also the penultimate sprint race of the year. Indianapolis follows in September before the season concludes with the endurance finale at Petit Le Mans. Three races remain, and after Road America demonstrated how much can change in a single afternoon, none of them can be treated in isolation.
The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR gets underway on Sunday, August 23, at 12:10 p.m. ET. Live coverage begins at 12:00 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock in the United States, with IMSA.tv and the IMSA Official YouTube channelcarrying coverage internationally.
Michelin GT Challenge at VIR – Weekend Schedule
Friday, August 21, 2026
Practice 1: 3:10 p.m. – 4:40 p.m. ET
Saturday, August 22, 2026
Practice 2: 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
Qualifying: 4:50 p.m. – 5:25 p.m. ET
Sunday, August 23, 2026
Race: 12:10 p.m. – 2:50 p.m. ET
Track Facts
Circuit Length: 3.27 miles (17 turns)
Track Record GTD PRO: 1:43.206
Classes: GTD PRO, GTD
Entries: 23 total (10 GTD PRO, 13 GTD)
