{"id":3786,"date":"2021-10-04T21:18:35","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T21:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=3786"},"modified":"2022-08-09T17:27:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T17:27:24","slug":"gilbert-korthoff-motorsports-returns-to-action-at-vir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/04\/gilbert-korthoff-motorsports-returns-to-action-at-vir\/","title":{"rendered":"Gilbert\/Korthoff Motorsports Returns to Action at VIR"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

DANVILLE, VA (4 October 2021)<\/strong> \u2013 Rested and tested, Gilbert\/Korthoff Motorsports (GKM) returns to GTD competition in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in this weekend\u2019s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.<\/p>\n

Guy Cosmo and new co-driver Mike Skeen will co-drive the No. 32 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the two-hour, 40-minute contest on Saturday, Oct. 9, which will be televised live on NBC.<\/p>\n

VIR will showcase the GT classes for the second and final time this season, with GTD joined by the GT Le Mans competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s\u00a0a great format,\u201d Cosmo said. \u201cWe can really sink our teeth into what we need to learn about this car and our competition without the distraction of managing all the prototype traffic. It will be a really focused event.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The team debuted with a seventh-place finish at Watkins Glen International in the WeatherTech 240, then had suspension issues at Road America which resulted\u00a0in a 14th-place finish<\/p>\n

After opting not to compete in the most recent event\u00a0at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca\u00a0to fine-tune the car, it was off to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for two days of testing last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of rain, so we didn\u2019t really get a whole lot of track time,\u201d Cosmo said of the test. \u201cBut, the car was pretty good, and we know we\u2019re going to show up at VIR in a reasonable space and keep working from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skeen, who was recently in action at VIR in his quest to defend his 2020 Trans Am championship, was happy to get reacquainted with the GKM squad during the test despite not getting all the laps in that the group had been hoping for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe competition at the IMSA WeatherTech level is really high and the kind of execution that is needed to succeed means you have to have a strong group that works well together,\u201d said Skeen, who has countless laps at VIR under his racing belts. \u201cSo even though the test didn\u2019t yield as much track time as we were looking for, it was still really productive for us as a group to build that team spirit a little bit and keep developing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A former regular in IMSA Prototype Challenge competition, Gilbert\/Korthoff Motorsports made the move to GTD this season with a brand-new Mercedes-AMG GT3. Right out of the box, the team took a strong finish at Watkins Glen, but then encountered mechanical issues in its next race at Road America. Since then, they\u2019ve been focused on VIR.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited,\u201d Cosmo said. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to be showing up a little more \u2018tuned in,\u2019 with our revamped crew that seems to be pretty sharp. I love VIR, and I know that the AMG \u2013 if it\u2019s in its window \u2013 is going to be pretty strong, so I feel we\u2019re going to be able to show what we can do. We\u2019re going to show up more focused and with a proper effort. I don\u2019t what to underestimate our competition, but I believe we have a shot at the podium if things go well. We showed real promise at Watkins Glen, and we barely scratched the surface at that point, and I feel we\u2019ll be in the hunt at VIR. We\u2019re definitely newcomers to this, from an organizational standpoint, and I\u2019m feeling good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening two practice sessions for the Michelin GT Challenge will take place Friday morning at 8 a.m. and 11:55 a.m. (all times ET). GTD qualifying begins at 4:35 p.m. Saturday festivities include the open grid fan walk at 11 a.m., with the race set to begin at 12:10 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.gilbertkorthoffmotorsports.com<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\nMedia Contact:<\/strong>
\nmedia@sundaymanagement.com<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DANVILLE, VA (4 October 2021) \u2013 Rested and tested, Gilbert\/Korthoff Motorsports (GKM) returns to GTD competition in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in this weekend\u2019s Michelin [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3786"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3789,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3786\/revisions\/3789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}