Young's Tom Sargent has broken through for his first win in the GT World Challenge America Pro-Am at Virginia International Raceway, in just his seventh race for 2024, his rookie season in GT Racing, and his first appearance at VIR.
Sargent teamed up with Kyle Washington to drive Global Motorsport Group's brand new EBoost sponsored Porsche 992 GT3R.
It was also GMG Racings first win in the current era of two 90-minute races over the race weekend.
The win was not without its challenges after an electronic problem with the car's transponder saw them only record one qualifying lap, which meant they started in 12th position.
Washington started the race and made steady progress through the field and kept his nose clean in a session filled with multiple race incidents and safety cars.
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GMG executed a perfect pit stop which saw Sargent take over the driving duties and rejoin in second position in the class. Series leader and race favourite Neil Verhagen, driving a BMW M4 GT3, was given a drive through penalty for an on-track infringement allowing Sargent to take the lead. However, a series of safety cars quickly saw Verhagen within striking distance to the rear of Sargent's Porsche for a sprint to the flag.
The more experienced Verhagen threw everything he had at Sargent in the final laps with both drivers putting on a master class of hard racing around the high speed and challenging Virginia International Raceway. However, Sargent held on to cross the line and take victory by 0.229 seconds.
Sargent made the move into racing in the USA in 2023 competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Series with Gold Coast based McElrea Racing. In his rookie year in both Carrera Cup and the USA he secured a solid second place in the one make series, which included one win at the famed Renn Sport Round at Laguna Seca Raceway in California, two pole positions, two fastest laps, and 10 podiums, statistics that were not lost on Kyle Washington and GMG Racing who quickly secured his services.
The more experienced Verhagen threw everything he had at Sargent in the final laps with both drivers putting on a master class...However, Sargent held on to cross the line and take victory by 0.229 seconds.
The series now moves to Road America in Wisconsin, Barber Raceway in Alabama before the final round at the Indianapolis 8-hour enduro.
