2015 Oak Tree Grand Prix

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.

Track map of VIR

Background

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Virginia International Raceway, where the race was held.

Preview

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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.[1] 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.[2] The race was held at the seventeen-turn 3.270 mi (5.263 km) Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia on August 23, 2015.[2] The PC category was dropped from the event.[3]

Entry list

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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.[4] 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.[3]

Qualifying

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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.[5]

Qualifying results

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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:[6][7]

Race

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Race Results

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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:[8][9]
Tyre manufacturers
Key
Symbol Tyre manufacturer
C Continental
M Michelin
F Falken Tire

References

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  1. ^ Dagys, John (10 August 2014). "2015 TUSC, CTSC Schedules Released". Sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  2. ^ a b Pruett, Marshall (August 10, 2014). "IMSA: 2015 TUDOR Championship schedule revealed". Racer. Archived from the original on March 23, 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Detroit In, VIR Out for PC Teams in 2015". Sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media, LLC. 31 October 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  4. ^ DiZinno, Tony (12 August 2015). "No Major Changes on VIR TUSC, CTSC Entry Lists". Sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  5. ^ Dagys, John (20 August 2015). "Continental Tire Keys to the Race: VIR". Sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  6. ^ "Qualifying" (PDF). IMSA. 22 August 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  7. ^ "United SportsCar Championship Virginia 2015 Grid Positions". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  8. ^ "Unofficial Race Report" (PDF). IMSA. 23 August 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  9. ^ "2015 Oak Tree at VIR". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
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