Paul Miller Racing Photo
PAUL MILLER RACING LEAVES VIR STILL LEADING GTD PRO
ALTON, Virginia (August 24, 2026) – Paul Miller Racing turned a
closely fought afternoon at VIRginia International Raceway into another
important result on Sunday, bringing the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO home fifth
and leaving Virginia still at the top of the GTD PRO championship.
Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi completed 84 laps in the Michelin
GT Challenge at VIR.
More importantly for the championship picture, both cars that had
arrived at VIR as Paul Miller Racing’s closest challengers finished
behind the No. 1 BMW.
Verhagen started the 2-hour, 40-minute race from third following a
strong qualifying performance on Saturday.
The field barely had time to settle before a heavy crash for the No. 3
Corvette brought out a Full Course Yellow on the opening lap, keeping
the race behind the safety car for roughly the first 20 minutes.
Once racing resumed, there were no further cautions. The long green-flag
run put more emphasis on pit timing and the different approaches taken
by the GTD PRO teams as the race developed.
As the first round of pit stops approached, Verhagen was running fourth
in GTD PRO, with the No. 4 Corvette in second.
Several of the leading cars were the first to stop before Verhagen and
Nicky Catsburg brought the No. 1 BMW and No. 4 Corvette into pit lane
with around one hour and 46 minutes remaining.
Paul Miller Racing used the stop to hand the car over to De Phillippi,
while the Corvette lost time in its box when the team had trouble
securing the car’s door.
The delay dropped the No. 4 behind the No. 1 BMW, with De Phillippi
moving into sixth as the remaining stops cycled through.
Different approaches during the final round of pit stops reshuffled the
order once again. The Corvette stopped around two minutes earlier and
took on less fuel, which put it ahead after De Phillippi made his own
stop shortly afterwards for fuel and tires.
That left the two cars to settle the position on track in the closing
stages.
With 17 minutes remaining, De Phillippi moved ahead of the No. 4
Corvette and stayed there through the checkered flag. He finished fifth
in GTD PRO, one class position ahead of the Corvette, while the No. 77
Porsche came home ninth.
The result gave Paul Miller Racing a little more room at the top of the
standings after its advantage had been reduced to 15 points at Road
America. Verhagen and De Phillippi now lead Catsburg and Milner by 23
points with two races remaining.
Back-to-back victories at Road America and VIR have meanwhile moved
Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell into third, 56 points behind
Verhagen and De Phillippi.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship continues with the
TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway from
September 18–20.
The 2-hour, 40-minute race on Sunday, September 20, will be the
penultimate round of the season before the championship concludes with
the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.