2015 Oak Tree Grand Prix

Track map of VIR

The 2015 Oak Tree Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The Race was held at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia on August 23, 2015. The race was the tenth round of the 2015 United SportsCar Championship.

Background

Virginia International Raceway, where the race was held.

Preview

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2015 IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship (IMSA TUSC) in August 2014. It was the second consecutive year the event was held as part of the United SportsCar Championship. The 2015 Oak Tree Grand Prix was the tenth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2015 by IMSA, and was the seventh round not held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the seventeen-turn 3.270 mi (5.263 km) Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia on August 23, 2015. The PC category was dropped from the event.

Entry list

Eighteen cars were officially entered for the Oak Tree Grand Prix, with most of the entries being in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) category. GTLM was represented by eight entries from four different brands. In the list of GTD entrants, ten GT-specification vehicles were represented by six different manufacturers. With the absence of the Prototype (P) and Prototype Challenge (PC) classes from the field, only two racing classes were represented in Virginia International Raceway.

Qualifying

Saturday afternoon's 40-minute two-group qualifying session gave 15-minute sessions to all categories. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM had a separate identically timed session. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class starting order. IMSA would arrange the grid to put all GTLMs ahead of the GTD cars.

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡. GTLM stands for Grand Touring Le Mans and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	GTLM	911	Porsche North America	Nick Tandy	1:42.532	_	1‡
2	GTLM	912	Porsche North America	Jörg Bergmeister	1:42.629	+0.097	2
3	GTLM	62	Risi Competizione	Pierre Kaffer	1:43.122	+0.590	3
4	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	Lucas Luhr	1:43.324	+0.792	4
5	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Bill Auberlen	1:43.356	+0.824	5
6	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Jan Magnussen	1:43.568	+1.036	6
7	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Tommy Milner	1:43.797	+1.265	7
8	GTLM	17	Team Falken Tire	Bryan Sellers	1:44.134	+1.602	8
9	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Dion von Moltke	1:49.255	+6.723	9‡
10	GTD	73	Park Place Motorsports	Patrick Lindsey	1:49.265	+6.733	10
11	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Bill Sweedler	1:49.512	+6.980	11
12	GTD	33	Riley Motorsports	Ben Keating	1:49.837	+7.305	12
13	GTD	007	TRG-AMR North America	Christina Nielsen	1:50.080	+7.548	13
14	GTD	23	Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing	Ian James	1:50.253	+7.721	14
15	GTD	44	Magnus Racing	John Potter	1:50.497	+7.965	15
16	GTD	22	Alex Job Racing	Cooper MacNeil	1:50.882	+8.350	16
17	GTD	97	Turner Motorsport	Michael Marsal	1:51.330	+8.798	17
18	GTD	76	Compass360 Racing	Ray Mason	1:53.078	+10.546	18
Sources:

Race

Race Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡. GTLM stands for Grand Touring Le Mans and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).

Final race classification Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 GTLM 911 Porsche North America Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy Porsche 911 RSR M 92 2:40:57.210‡ Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 2 GTLM 912 Porsche North America Earl Bamber Jörg Bergmeister Porsche 911 RSR M 92 +27.267 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 3 GTLM 62 Risi Competizione Pierre Kaffer Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 M 92 +27.842 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 4 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Lucas Luhr BMW Z4 GTE M 92 +1:01.282 BMW 4.4 L V8 5 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen Dirk Werner BMW Z4 GTE M 92 +1:16.723 BMW 4.4 L V8 6 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 92 +1:22.358 Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 7 GTLM 17 Team Falken Tire Bryan Sellers Wolf Henzler Porsche 911 RSR F 91 +1 lap Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 8 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 91 +1 lap Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 9 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Bill Sweedler Townsend Bell Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 C 88 +4 Laps‡ Ferrari 4.5 L V8 10 GTD 007 TRG-AMR North America Christina Nielsen Kuno Wittmer Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 C 87 +5 Laps Aston Martin 6.0 L V12 11 GTD 23 Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing Mario Farnbacher Ian James Porsche 911 GT America C 87 +5 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 12 GTD 97 Turner Motorsport Michael Marsal Markus Palttala BMW Z4 GT3 C 87 +5 Laps BMW 4.4 L V8 13 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Christopher Haase Dion von Moltke Audi R8 LMS ultra C 87 +5 Laps Audi 5.2 L V10 14 GTD 22 Alex Job Racing Leh Keen Cooper MacNeil Porsche 911 GT America C 87 +5 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 15 GTD 33 Riley Motorsports Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Dodge Viper GT3-R C 87 +5 Laps Dodge 8.3 L V10 16 GTD 76 Compass360 Racing Pierre Kleinubing Ray Mason Audi R8 LMS ultra C 83 +9 Laps Audi 5.2 L V10 17 DNF GTD 44 Magnus Racing John Potter Andy Lally Porsche 911 GT America C 51 Vibration Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 18 DNF GTD 73 Park Place Motorsports Patrick Lindsey Spencer Pumpelly Porsche 911 GT America C 34 Cooling Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 Sources:

Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer C Continental M Michelin F Falken Tire