Skip Barber Racing Captures Pole Position, Record Finishes at VIR

Skip Barber Racing’s James Klimas scored his best finish of the season in TC America powered by the Skip Barber Racing School, while brothers Alex Garcia and Michael Garcia earned another top-five result in GT4 America. In a weekend that saw everything from light rain to lightning strikes, Skip Barber Racing battled across four different series during its home race at VIRginia International Raceway. Klimas kicked off the weekend with a fifth-place finish in the No. 61 Middletown Toyota GR Corolla TC—his strongest result of the season. The finish reflects the hard work Klimas and the team have put into the GR Corolla during its inaugural campaign. As was the case all weekend, weather played a role in TC America. Qualifying was canceled due to lightning, forcing Klimas to start Race 1 from sixth. He quickly moved up a spot and held onto fifth through the checkered flag. Klimas also pulled double duty, returning to Toyota GR Cup North America in the No. 61 Middletown Toyota GR Cup entry. After starting Race 1 from 23rd, he charged through the field to finish 15th—his best result in the series to date. In McLaren Trophy America, Tommy Pintos made a statement by putting the No. 919 PiedParker McLaren Artura Trophy Evo on pole by over one second. Pintos steadily improved throughout the session, stealing pole on his fourth lap before improving by another eight-tenths of a second on his fifth. With pole secured, Pintos and co-driver Cooper Broll earned yet another podium finish in the Pro Class. Pintos also set the fastest lap of Race 1 by nearly a full second. Skip Barber Racing’s final entry of the weekend was the No. 07 PolePace Aston Martin Vantage GT4, driven by Michael and Alex Garcia. The brothers entered VIR fourth in the Am Class standings, with one win and two additional top-ten finishes boosting their impressive rookie campaign. Their win came at the season opener in Sonoma Raceway under mixed conditions—the same scenario that defined Race 1 at VIR. This time, however, lightning brought out a lengthy red flag, setting up a 10-minute sprint to the finish on a wet track. Alex Garcia took the restart and climbed from seventh in class to finish inside the top five. Race 2 featured dry conditions, and the result was even stronger. The Garcia brothers climbed their way up to third, but were slowed by an incident in turn one and crossed the line in fifth and were later promoted to fourth after post-race penalties were applied to competitors. The result marks four consecutive top-five finishes for Alex and Michael in GT4 America. Skip Barber Racing returns to action on August 15 at Road America.