The IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge returns to action, supporting the NASCAR weekend at Circuit of the Americas.

Saturday sees Round 2 of the sprint-race championship on the entry level of the IMSA ladder. The LMP3 and GSX machines will run a pair of 45-minute races on the shortened 2.4-mile west layout. Seventeen cars across the two classes are set to do battle in the heart of Texas.

LMP3: Gebhardt set to continue dominance

After a dominant performance at Daytona, Gebhardt Motorsport looks to keep their winning ways going this weekend. Columbia’s Oscar Tunjo, who swept the races at Daytona in his #1 Duqueine, is the favorite in both races this weekend again. But don’t count out his stable mates.

For Danny Soufi, this weekend is special. The Austin native gets to perform on home turf in front of family and friends. A podium in the season opener is a great momentum builder and looks to improve on his performance at COTA. Swiss driver Jeremy Siffert, grandson of former sportscar champion Jo, had a respectable debut weekend. The 22-year old looked after the equipment and finished both races in a solid performance. COTA will be another opportunity to for the young driver to gain experience on American circuits.

Elsewhere on the grid, Toney Driver Development served as a formidable opponent to Gebhardt in Daytona. For COTA, they will have two new pilots at the wheel of their Ligiers. Wyatt Brichacek will be at the wheel of the #30 while Texas native Titus Sherlock will be at the controls of the #95.

Finally, in the Bronze Cup, Tampa’s Farhan Siddiqi showed pace in Daytona but did not have the results to show for it. If all holds together, he looks good to be top of the subclass this weekend in Texas. Jon Hirshberg and Mirko Schultis split the Bronze Cup wins at Daytona and to count them out at COTA would be a mistake.

GSX: Can anyone stop Workman?

We may have already seen the performance of the season in Race 2 at Daytona from Westin Workman. He lost his pole position having to pit before the green and then stop on course to reset the car’s electronics. Workman proceeded to made up the quarter lap distance and passed the entire GSX field in twenty minutes. He then had to hold off Justin DiBenedetto after avoiding the wreck that triggered a late-race safety car and one-lap shootout. I say all that to say the #8 RAFA Racing Supra is the odds on favorite to sweep the races again at COTA. He is the fastest driver in the class right now and the 21-year old is locked in and laser focused on securing this championship.

The GSX field, unfortunately, is noticeably smaller at COTA than Daytona. Only seven entries will be in Austin this weekend and five of them are Bronze Cup entries. Outside of Workman, Courtney Crone is the only other Silver-rated driver in her CarBahn BMW. But don’t sleep on Crone or the Bronze cup entries. Sean Quinlan proved the Bronze drivers are quite capable of mixing it up with the Silvers at Daytona. With Quinlan absent for COTA, will another Bronze take his place? Perhaps it will be Austin native Marc Austin making his first VP appearance and bringing Mercedes to the GSX grid for the first time this season. It could also be Mr. RAFA himself, Rafa Martinez, hoping to show he has some speed after a Daytona weekend with mixed results.

Weekend Details

As this article is being written, the series has completed both of its practice sessions with qualifying to come this evening. The series will run both of its 45-minute sprint races on Saturday. Race 1 takes place at 12:30pm ET (11:30am local) followed by Race 2 at 6:30pm ET (5:30pm local). Both races will stream LIVE on the IMSA YouTube channel.

Featured Image: Oscar Tunjo celebrating victory after Race 1 at Daytona Photo Courtesy: Peter Heil/GEBHARDT Motorsport