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Walker Doubles Down in Texas, Porter Breaks Through for GSX Win
March 1, 2025
Staff Report IMSA Wire Service
AUSTIN, Texas – A wild ending in Saturday’s first race of the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race at Circuit of The Americas snapped Valentino Catalano’s overall and P3 class winning streak, but the German returned to his winning ways on Saturday afternoon.
Driving the No. 30 Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports Duqueine D08, Catalano started the race from the pole position and remained out front for the duration of the 45-minute race to record his third victory in four races this season. Catalano beat teammate Oscar Tunjo to the checkered flag in the No. 31 Gebhardt Duqueine by 48.813 seconds.
“This morning we were a bit unlucky,” said Catalano, who along with his teammate, seemingly ran out of fuel on the penultimate lap of Race 1. “I mean, it is racing and sometimes that happens, but we knew that we were quick. I felt comfortable with the car. The car felt well. So we just kept our focus for the next race.
“In Race 2, we just brought it together and it worked out, so I’m really happy about showing my potential and getting the result for it.”
Tunjo followed closely behind Catalano for much of the race before fading in the closing laps. He also incurred a 10-second post-race penalty for passing under a local yellow, but it did not affect his finishing position.
Third place in P3 went to Jonathan Woolridge in the No. 54 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320 for his third consecutive podium result. Woolridge scored his second series victory in Race 1 and vaulted into second place in the P3 point standings with a solid weekend in Texas. He trails Catalano by 110 points, 1310-1200, with four of 12 races now in the books.
Brian Thienes took his third consecutive P3 Bronze Cup victory in the No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P320.
Walker Sweeps COTA Weekend in No. 6 Turner Motorsport BMW
Jake Walker had a perfect weekend at Circuit of The Americas. The young Pennsylvanian started both races from the GTDX class pole position, claimed his first series victory on Saturday morning and made it a clean sweep with a victory in Race 2 aboard the No. 6 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.
Walker made a quick getaway at the drop of the green flag to pull into the class lead and controlled the race from the front. Although his gap narrowed a bit toward the end of the race, Walker was never in any jeopardy of losing the race and finished 10.759 seconds ahead of AJ Muss to win the race.
“In the beginning, we got a good run,” Walker said. “We got ourselves a gap and we just kept picking away at the GT4s (GSX cars) and LMP3s and catching the lapped traffic – navigating it and keeping the car clean. That was mainly our race.”
Muss drove the No. 66 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 to his second runner-up result of the day and his fourth GTDX class podium in as many races this season. As a result, Muss now finds himself atop the class point standings by 10 points, 1260-1250, over Adam Adelson, who encountered an early issue in his No. 24 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R that dropped him far behind the field. He eventually battled back to finish sixth in class.
Matias Perez Companc made it two Af Corse Ferraris on the podium with a third-place performance in the No. 50 Ferrari.
Samantha Tan capped off a successful COTA weekend with her second Bronze Cup class victory and a fourth-place GTDX class result in the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3.
Porter Claims Breakthrough Victory in GSX in No. 68 RAFA Racing Toyota
A RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 has been out front for all of the GSX class season thus far.
However, when the checkered flag fell on Race 2 at COTA, it was not the No. 8 Supra driven to three consecutive victories by Kiko Porto. This time, it was Ian Porter, who claimed his maiden series victory aboard the No. 68 Toyota.
For the first 39 minutes of the 45-minute race, Porto was having another dominating performance. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, an unspecified mechanical issue reared its ugly head at the most inopportune time, forcing the No. 8 machine to slow dramatically on course and eventually pull off in a safe location trackside.
That opened the door for Porter – who was having his own adventures in the No. 68 Supra – but not enough to keep him from the top step of the podium for the first time in his VP Racing SportsCar Challenge career.
“That was probably the scariest race I’ve ever driven because we’re doing multi-class (racing) and I had no left mirror,” Porter said. “I had no right mirror. The rear camera was way, way too dark for how bright it was. And then you can’t see anything out of the top mirror, so it was a terrifying situation to try to figure out where the GT3s (GTDX cars) are. A lot of it, I was actually just doing by sound because I had no visuals.”
In addition to the GSX class victory, Porter also claimed Bronze Cup honors in the class.
“This is my second year racing and it’s an incredible feeling,” he said. “I mean, that was an actual battle to pass every single car that I had to pass, so it was very refreshing, especially coming from iRacing and online. That’s what I’m used to and now I’m just seeing this in real life and through my own two eyes and it’s just wild. I’m 15 months in and got an IMSA victory under my belt, so it’s nice.”
Chris Walsh wound up second in GSX aboard the No. 10 Carrus Callas Raceteam BMW M4 GT4 EVO, coming home 9.107 seconds behind Porter. Steven Clemons finished third in the No. 76 BSI Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 despite crossing the finish line just 0.827 seconds behind Porter as he was assessed a 10-second post-race penalty for multiple track limits violations early in the race.
Despite the setback, which saw Porto finish last in the GSX class, the Brazilian still has a fairly comfortable, 150-point lead, 1270-1120, in the championship standings.
Next up for the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge is a doubleheader at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on June 6-8 as part of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio event weekend headlined by the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
