ALTON, Virginia (August 24, 2026) – Paul Miller Racing turned a closely fought afternoon at VIRginia International Raceway into another important result on Sunday, bringing the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO home fifth and leaving Virginia still at the top of the GTD PRO championship.
Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi completed 84 laps in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.
More importantly for the championship picture, both cars that had arrived at VIR as Paul Miller Racing’s closest challengers finished behind the No. 1 BMW.
Verhagen started the 2-hour, 40-minute race from third following a strong qualifying performance on Saturday.
The field barely had time to settle before a heavy crash for the No. 3 Corvette brought out a Full Course Yellow on the opening lap, keeping the race behind the safety car for roughly the first 20 minutes.
Once racing resumed, there were no further cautions. The long green-flag run put more emphasis on pit timing and the different approaches taken by the GTD PRO teams as the race developed.
As the first round of pit stops approached, Verhagen was running fourth in GTD PRO, with the No. 4 Corvette in second.
Several of the leading cars were the first to stop before Verhagen and Nicky Catsburg brought the No. 1 BMW and No. 4 Corvette into pit lane with around one hour and 46 minutes remaining.
Paul Miller Racing used the stop to hand the car over to De Phillippi, while the Corvette lost time in its box when the team had trouble securing the car’s door.
The delay dropped the No. 4 behind the No. 1 BMW, with De Phillippi moving into sixth as the remaining stops cycled through.
Different approaches during the final round of pit stops reshuffled the order once again. The Corvette stopped around two minutes earlier and took on less fuel, which put it ahead after De Phillippi made his own stop shortly afterwards for fuel and tires.
That left the two cars to settle the position on track in the closing stages.
With 17 minutes remaining, De Phillippi moved ahead of the No. 4 Corvette and stayed there through the checkered flag. He finished fifth in GTD PRO, one class position ahead of the Corvette, while the No. 77 Porsche came home ninth.
The result gave Paul Miller Racing a little more room at the top of the standings after its advantage had been reduced to 15 points at Road America. Verhagen and De Phillippi now lead Catsburg and Milner by 23 points with two races remaining.
Back-to-back victories at Road America and VIR have meanwhile moved Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell into third, 56 points behind Verhagen and De Phillippi.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship continues with the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway from September 18–20.
The 2-hour, 40-minute race on Sunday, September 20, will be the penultimate round of the season before the championship concludes with the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Neil Verhagen
“It was a pretty intense race today, especially towards the end. Connor did a great job in the final stint and getting back ahead of the No. 4 was important for us in the championship. Of course, we always want more than P5, but we leave VIR still leading the standings and with a few more points in hand than we arrived with. There are two races left now, so we’ll keep our heads down and focus on Indy.”
Connor De Phillippi
“Another solid points day and we maximized the cards we were dealt for the weekend. Super proud of how the entire team, including us drivers, held our composure throughout the weekend and focused on the end result. We will regroup and aim higher at Indy!”
