VIRginia International Raceway, Alton, VA
12 p.m. EDT Saturday, October 9, 2021
12 p.m. EDT NBC Network Television
Additional Live Coverage on NBC TrackPass, NBCSports.com, IMSA Radio, SiriusXM
Acura NSX GT3 Evo Teams
Two Acura NSX GT3 Evo teams will be on track this weekend at VIRginia International Raceway, with Sprint Cup participant Gradient Racing joining overall championship entrant Magnus with Archangel for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.
For 2021, Acura’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD effort is headed by Magnus with Archangel, with three Rolex 24 class wins to their combined credit. The driver lineup for the #44 Acura NSX GT3 Evo is headed by three-time IMSA champion and five-time Rolex 24 class winner Andy Lally, paired with veteran driver and team co-owner John Potter.
Based in Austin, Texas, Gradient Racing returns for a second year of IMSA Sprint Cup competition with the #66 Unit Nutrition Acura NSX GT3 Evo for drivers Mario Farnbacher – substituting for the injured Marc Miller – and Till Bechtolsheimer.
Miller suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon while training early last week. He underwent successful surgery to repair the tendon on Friday, and is now in therapy and rehabilitation near his home in Michigan.
Farnbacher is the two-time and defending GTD champion with four career GTD class victories. He competed in the previous seven Sprint Cup rounds this season with Compass Racing. However, Compass is not entered in this weekend’s VIR round, making Farnbacher available to replace the injured Miller.
The Acura brand returned to IMSA sports car racing in 2017, with Meyer Shank Racing fielding a pair of new Acura NSX GT3s. Acura scored a pair of race victories and five podium finishes in a highly-successful debut season, then scored another pair of victories and finished second in the 2018 GTD championship. Developing the NSX GT3 Evo, Meyer Shank Racing went on to win IMSA GTD championship in both 2019 and 2020.
Acura ARX-05 Prototype Teams
IMSA’s Prototype category is not a part of the IMSA weekend at VIR, but the Acura ARX-05s will return to the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the following round, the season finale Petit Le Mans, November 11-13 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Propelled by wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Acura Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge and at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca; plus podium finishes at Detroit and both Watkins Glen rounds, Wayne Taylor Racing’s Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque lead the Drivers’ Championship standings by 19 points [3071-3052] over primary rivals Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani. Driving for Meyer Shank Racing, Dane Cameron and Olivier Pla are fifth in the championship battle with 2668 points.
Where To Watch
Live network television coverage from VIR begins at 12 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9, on NBC. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available NBC Sports Gold TrackPass, 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 [Sirius 216, XM 202, SiriusXM Online 992]; 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.
Acura Motorsports social media content and video links from VIRginia International Raceway can be found on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD). Additional features and long-form videos can be found on the Honda Racing/HPD YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV).