Westin Workman rebounded from an unfortunate ending to his Canadian Tire Motorsport Park weekend in July, claiming the overall win in Race No. 1 among the eight-car GSX field at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) aboard the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.
Workman led the field to green to open the 45-minute sprint, but the Toyota driver faced early pressure from Courtney Crone in the No. 35 CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 EVO. Crone got bumper-to-bumper with Workman entering the opening turn, but Workman was able to fend off the challenge and begin extending his race lead.
Workman’s teammate and team owner, Rafa Martinez, encountered issues that resulted in an early exit for the driver of the No. 68 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. However, Martinez was able to pull off track near the start-finish line, allowing the race to remain green.
While Workman continued to build his advantage, the battle for second place unfolded between Crone and Panam Motorsport driver Caio Chaves in the No. 98 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. Crone held her position ahead of Chaves through the opening minutes, fending off the pursuing Brazilian driver. However, with just over 30 minutes remaining, Chaves used the slipstream to get past Crone and claim second place.
The final 20 minutes of the race remained relatively static, with Workman building a lead of more than 10 seconds over the other podium contenders.
A full-course yellow came out with under 10 minutes remaining after Dan Ammann suffered significant damage near Turn 11 aboard the No. 91 VRC Motorsports Group Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.
The yellow-flag conditions ultimately ended the race, allowing Workman to hold on for the victory.
Joining Workman on the podium was Chaves, who earned a second-place finish following his early-race pass on Crone. Crone secured the final step on the podium with a third-place effort.
The final race of the weekend for the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge at VIR begins Sunday at 8:40 a.m. ET and will be streamed live on Peacock, IMSA.tv and IMSA’s official YouTube channel.
