Michelin GT Challenge at VIR
Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Va.
1:30 p.m. EDT Sunday, August 25, 2019
NBC Sports Network
Live Coverage on NBCSports.com, Radio Le Mans and IMSA.TV.com
MEYER SHANK RACING
• Heading into the final three races of 2019, Acura, the Meyer Shank Racing team and drivers Trent Hindman and Mario Farnbacher all lead their respective GTD championships.
• Acura leads the GTD Manufacturers’ Championship over eight competing brands with 210 points. Lamborghini is second with 208 points, followed by Lexus (205) and Porsche (203). BMW rounds out the top five with 195 points.
• In the GTD Drivers’ Championship, Farnbacher and Hindman hold a substantial, 26-point lead (209-183) over Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley. The Meyer Shank Racing Team leads Turner Motorsport by the same margin in the Teams’ Championship.
• For 2019, MSR has entered into a partnership with businesswoman/racer Jackie Heinricher and sponsor Caterpillar to field the #57 Acura NSX GT3 Evo for an all-female driver lineup anchored by four-time Acura race winner Katherine Legge. Legge stands ninth in the GTD Drivers’ Championship with 153 points.
• Alice Powell will make her IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut at Virginia International Raceway, joining full-season driver Legge in the No. 57 Acura NSX GT3.
• Powell won the final race in the recently concluded W Series season, finishing third in the inaugural year for the championship. The 26-year-old British driver won the 2014 Asian Formula Renault championship, scoring five wins in the 11-race series and also has experience in Formula 3, GP3 and Formula Renault UK.
• A new video from Acura explores the relationship between the Acura NSX supercar and its race-winning counterpart, the NSX GT3 Evo. Trent Hindman demonstrates the distinctive approaches to performance of the two cars in 0-60 runs, braking tests, ease-of-use evaluations and, of course, ultimate lap times at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The video can be found at https://youtu.be/tJkR2tIODko.
ACURA TEAM PENSKE
• IMSA’s Prototype category is not a part of the race weekend at Virginia International Raceway, but the championship-leading Acura ARX-05s will return for the penultimate round of the 2019 championship September 15 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.
• Propelled by back-to-back wins at the Acura Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio and the Grand Prix of Detroit, plus podium finishes at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Watkins Glen, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and most recently at Road America; Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya lead the DPi Drivers’ Championship standings by seven points [239-232] over Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr.
• Acura also leads the DPi Manufacturers’ Championship fight, with 262 points to 257 for Cadillac. Mazda is third with 251 points and Nissan is fourth with 230 points.
WHERE TO WATCH
• Television coverage from VIR begins at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, August 25, on the NBC Sports Network. Complete, live race coverage will also be available on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App with NBCSN authentication.
• Fans can listen in to audio commentary via IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and Sirius XM Radio; and follow the race live via in-car cameras, IMSA Radio and timing & scoring available worldwide on IMSA.com and the IMSA mobile device App.
• Video recaps from Acura Motorsports activities – and the companion Honda Racing action in the MICHELIN Pilot Challenge race – at VIR will be posted on the “Honda Racing/HPD” YouTube channel. Produced by the Carolinas Production Group, the videos can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.