There was a lot of activity going on at Daytona International Speedway over the last few days, with testing for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) and Michelin Pilot Challenge series, as well as the first two races of the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge season. BMW teams were in the top five in both races between two classes.
The VP Challenge series is a sprint race series with one driver and no required pit stops and is a great option for drivers who are looking to move up the ladder to other IMSA series (such as IWSC) or just race in a lower-cost series. New for 2024 is the GTDX class for GT3-spec machinery, with the caveat that the cars were previously homologated. Under that requirement, the M4 GT3 entries were cars that raced last year and not the new M4 GT3 EVO models.
Vin Barletta finished third among Bronze-rated drivers in the GTDX class in both races.
There were three BMW entries in the GTDX class. Samantha Tan (shown in top photo) was driving the #38 ST Racing M4 GT3, while Jake Walker and Vin Barletta were entered in the #6 and #95 Turner Motorsport M4 GT3s. Tan and Walker are in for the full VP Challenge season, while Barletta may just do select races. There were also five BMWs in the GT4-spec GSX class, with entries from Turner Motorsport, Carrus Callas Raceteam, Swish Motorsports, and Auto Technic Racing.
Patrick Wilmot was the best of the BMWs in the GSX class.
Samantha Tan showed her skill at the wheel of an M4 GT3 by qualifying third fastest in the GTDX class and was the fastest of the BMWs. Jake Walker had been the fastest of the BMWs in the two practice sessions before the races but had a wreck in qualifying that did enough damage to the car that he couldn’t compete in race one. During the race, Tan had a great battle with Matias Perez Companc in the #50 Ferrari for third before falling back to fifth by the end. She also finished second among Bronze-rated drivers, while the race win went to Adam Adelson in the #24 Wright Motorsport Porsche. Vin Barletta finished sixth overall in GTDX and third among Bronze-rated drivers.
Roland Krainz finished in ninth in the GSX class in race one.
In the GSX class, Patrick Wilmot was the most competitive of the BMW drivers in his #12 Swish Motorsports M4 GT4. He finished on the podium in third place behind the #8 Toyota Supra GT4 Evo of Kiko Porto and the second place Ford Mustang driven by Greg Liefooghe. Roland Krainz finished in the top ten in ninth in the #19 Auto Technic Racing M4 GT4 EVO, followed by Chris Walsh in tenth in the #10 Carrus Callus Raceteam M4 GT4. Walsh was the SRO TC America TCX class champion in 2024, driving an M2 CS for Carrus Callas. Matt Dalton didn’t finish in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW.
Chris Walsh finished in the top ten in both GSX class races.
Race two was held on a very wet track after strong thunderstorms went through the Daytona area, and the result in GTDX was the same as in race one, with Samantha Tan finishing fifth, followed by Vin Barletta in sixth. Tan and Barletta were once again second and third among Bronze-rated drivers. Adam Adelson easily won the race in his Wright Motorsport Porsche and was in a class of his own in both races. The Turner Motorsport team got the #8 M4 GT3 fixed after Jake Walker’s accident in qualifying the day before, but he retired with car issues early in the race.
In the GSX class in race two, Patrick Wilmot was once again the best of the BMWs in seventh, followed by Chris Walsh in ninth, Roland Krainz in eleventh, and Matt Dalton in twelfth. The GSX class was won once again by Kiko Porto in his Toyota Supra.
The next races on the VP Challenge schedule are at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, the weekend of February 28th-March 1st.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy LAT Images]