Caranta, Workman Double Up to Conclude VPRC Season

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

The final sprint race for the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge before the championship moves to an endurance format in 2027, featured a 45-minute barnburner at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Friday morning.

Both Jules Caranta (LMP3) and Westin Workman (GSX) completed weekend sweeps, although both drivers had to work a little harder to get there.

Season champions Oscar Tunjo (LMP3) and Workman (GSX) had clinched their respective titles in Thursday’s first race of the weekend, so they raced in a pressure-free environment.

Afew key moments led up to the final restart with less than five minutes to go.

For the overall lead, Caranta in his No. 18 Forbush Performance Duqueine D09 Toyota paced the field from pole but withstood multiple close passing attempts from Tunjo in his No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport Duqueine D09.

After the restart, Caranta was able to extend his gap over Tunjo to a final margin of victory of 2.031 seconds, with Tunjo’s teammate Danny Soufi third in his No. 11 PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing Duqueine D09.

P3 Bronze Cup Title Battle Comes Down to the Wire

Behind them, the LMP3 Bronze Cup championship came down to the final five minutes. Travis Hill (No. 2 Shopify Racing Ligier JS P325 Toyota) led Brian Thienes (No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P325) by just 30 points.

Thienes needed to finish two spots higher than Hill among Bronze-rated entries to overcome the deficit, with a potential tiebreaker looming if Thienes only finished one spot ahead of him.

Thienes led Hill for the bulk of the race, running fourth and fifth overall, with Hill briefly having a moment where he went off course in the esses.

But the lone full-course caution with 10 minutes remaining – caused when Thienes’ teammate Jon Hirshberg in his No. 86 Forte Racing Ligier JS P325 was trapped in the Turn 5 gravel – entirely changed the complexion of the race and the championship.

Once the race restarted, Hill made his move to the inside of Thienes in Turn 1.

That netted the Canadian a fourth overall finish but crucially, his seventh Bronze Cup win of the year. That single 60-point swing of positions ensured Hill avoided the tiebreaker and beat Thienes after a yearlong fight across 14 races of both sprint and endurance race lengths.

Workman Finishes the Perfect-But-One Race GSX Season

Were it not for a mechanical malady north of the border at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, there’s a good chance Workman would have completed a perfect 12-for-12 season in GSX in his No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.

His win on Friday morning was still his 11th in 12 races among races he could control and built on his yearlong goal of learning in different conditions, temperatures and race situations this season.

A cooler, overcast Friday morning race offered a marked difference from Thursday; nonetheless Workman still beat Courtney Crone (No. 35 CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 EVO) by 9.424 seconds.

In his first IMSA weekend of the year, Angus Rogers returned to the paddock and took the GSX Bronze Cup win, third among all GSX runners in his No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport.

Although he had a tough race himself, Jon Brel still wrapped the GSX Bronze Cup title in his No. 81 Kingpin Racing Toyota.

RESULTS: Race 2

Source: Sports Car 365