Jagger Jones carried his torrid type within the Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) class of the VP Racing SportsCar Problem to VIRginia Worldwide Raceway. The 22-year-old grandson of motorsports legend Parnelli Jones claimed his sixth win in seven begins in Saturday’s 45-minute race, a part of the Michelin GT Problem at VIR weekend.
Jones’ No. 87 FastMD Racing with Remstar Duqueine D08 emerged unscathed from a mid-race bump that despatched two Grand Sport X (GSX) opponents spinning. That close to miss allowed P3 championship chief Steve Aghakhani (No. 6 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320) to briefly problem Jones for the lead as they continued to navigate via lapped GSX site visitors.
However Jones recovered from the scare and rebuilt the 1.5s buffer over Aghakhani that he loved via the occasion’s first 20 minutes. Aware of his snug championship lead, Aghakhani eased off within the closing laps and completed 4.55s behind Jones. Miguel Villagomez claimed third place and Bronze Cup driver honors within the No. 23 Escuderia ABRO Ligier.
“With the observe temps, it was super-hot and super-slick and there have been a number of marbles,” Jones stated. “I feel we have been all sort of sliding round a bit and that’s what made the race so thrilling there.
“It’s a bit difficult with the site visitors. Between Flip 3 and all the best way up via the Esses, it’s actually tough to get by the GT4s. I used to be held up there, after which Steven and I virtually went side-by-side for the lead via the Esses. It was hectic, however I’m simply joyful to carry the automotive residence clear and get one other win.”
Aghakhani leads the P3 standings by 560 factors over Brian Thienes (No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier), who completed fifth on Saturday. Jones is 570 factors off the lead, his deficit because of not competing within the opening two races of the championship at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
Mars blasts off to GSX win in No. 59 KohR Ford Mustang
Jake Galstad/Lumen
Luca Mars may have been disenchanted when a quick full-course warning negated the 9s GSX lead he earned within the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s race.
As an alternative, Mars went again to work. He pushed the No. 59 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 to a 45s margin over the GSX subject, with the timing of the end scoring him a full lap forward of Mark Brummond (No. 25 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4), who earned GSX Bronze Cup driver honors.
Mars entered the weekend main Jesse Lazare by 190 factors within the GSX standings. The victory practically tripled the 18-year-old Pennsylvanian’s factors benefit, after Lazare crashed the No. 21 Motorsports In Motion McLaren Artura GT4 in apply on Friday and didn’t begin Saturday’s race.
Mars now has a 520-point benefit over Patrick Wilmot, who completed third Saturday within the No. 88 Break up Determination Motorsports BMW. Lazare is 540 factors again.
“At the moment actually helped us draw back within the championship lead,” Mars stated. “The automotive was actually quick. The KohR Motorsports guys had this Ford Mustang on rails. It was fairly free on the market with the solar, and the observe obtained sort of greasy.
“So, I needed to maintain on there. However I used to be capable of get that large lead from the start and simply work on pulling away to attempt to get the win.”
Mars admitted that having an enormous lead can in some methods be harder than being embroiled in a good battle.
“I used to be sort of moseying off and I needed to get my consideration again,” he stated. “Often, you might have folks throughout you and you must focus in on getting by the individual in entrance of you. When there’s no one in entrance of you, you don’t slack off, however you don’t have the identical sort of focus.”
Sunday’s race begins at 8:40 a.m. ET with a livestream on Peacock within the U.S. in addition to IMSA.television and YouTube.com/IMSAOfficial exterior the U.S.
