Gradient Racing Secures Top-10 Finish in Virginia Heat

Gradient Racing added a sixth top-10 finish of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season in a hot and gruelling Michelin GT Challenge at VIR on Sunday. Sheena Monk and Katherine Legge drove an ultra-consistent race across two hours and 40 minutes of action at Virginia International Raceway aboard the #66 JG Wentworth HPD Acura NSX GT3 Evo 22.

But despite the duo’s efforts, the closeness of the competition at one of the USA’s most-loved road courses plus a lack of Full-Course Caution periods meant that opportunities tobenefit from searing speed or strategic nous were few and far between. Having focused on race preparation through the majority of the practice running, Newtown, PA native Monk made excellent progress to equal her career-best GTD qualifying performance in 10th spot on Saturday.

She made up a position by the time she completed her mandatory and handed driving duties over to Legge after 45 minutes. Progress by the multiple IMSA race winner was swift as she climbed to seventh spot, but she then lost positions during her final stop with an hour to and slipped to 10th, where the Atlanta-based Briton remained until the checkered flag.

The result puts Monk and Legge ninth in the Drivers’ Championship while also leaving Monk as one of four contenders left for the Bob Akin Award – which guarantees an automatic entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans to the leading bronze driver in the GTD contest. Monk is 260 points away from first position but remains a contender with 700 available from the final two races of the season.

Andris Laivins, Team Manager, said: VIR was just plain tough for us; on race day we were lacking some mid corner grip which made for a long race. Sheena and Kat did their usual amazing jobs, and we left nothing on the table in the pits. We have some ideas for our next visit, but we're ready to put this one behind us and look ahead to Indy!