IMPC: Aurora Straus and Murillo Racing fight through the field, recover to 16th at VIR
- RACERS
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Aurora Straus and Kenny Murillo continued their IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign at Virginia International Raceway with another hard-fought performance, recovering positions to finish 16th in the GS class.
Aurora Straus and Kenny Murillo continued their IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign at Virginia International Raceway with another hard-fought performance, recovering positions to finish 16th in the GS class.
The result extended the #24 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4's run of promising but challenging weekends, with Straus and Murillo again demonstrating pace to make progress over the race but unable to convert top ten potential into the results they had been targeting.
After securing their first top-ten result of the season at Mid-Ohio and recovering to 14th at Road America, the duo arrived at VIR hoping to continue their steady development during their first full IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign together.
The technical and fast Virginia circuit, however, provided a challenging environment from the outset, with the weekend's preparation complicated by changing weather conditions. Opening practice in fact took place on a wet track, limiting the amount of representative data Straus and Murillo could gather, although the #24 Mercedes still managed to record the tenth-fastest time in the session with a 1:57.517.
Conditions improved for second practice, allowing the field to work with a more representative track, although the Murillo Racing entry ended the session in P24 after Kenny Murillo set a 1:56.062.
Aurora Straus then took on qualifying duties for the #24 Mercedes-AMG GT4, taking on the fifteen-minute GS session as the team looked to secure the best possible starting position.
Straus set a 1:57.085 during the session, placing the Murillo Racing entry 25th on the GS grid.
Straus took the start aboard the #24 Mercedes under sunny conditions, with the race getting underway cleanly across both the GS and TCR classes. The opening lap proved tricky, as Straus eventually settled in P26. She quickly regained momentum, with an incident involving Ammann and Hampton at Turn 1 a few laps later providing an opportunity to recover two positions, as Straus was directly behind the cars involved, moving the Mercedes back into 25th.
Further incidents continued to alter the order during the opening stages. When the #4 McLaren of Uretsky ran off into the grass and the #53 Kingpin Racing Toyota was forced into the pits with damage following contact, Straus gained another three positions to move into P22, while the race remained under green-flag conditions.
The opening 20 minutes therefore provided Straus with a steady recovery, as she continued to work through the GS field while maintaining a clean race despite the increasing number of incidents around her.
The first Full Course Yellow of the afternoon was eventually triggered on lap 10 after Ammann, having already been involved in an earlier incident, suffered further contact and returned to the circuit with damaged rear suspension before spinning at speed. Ted Giovanis and Maddie Aust were caught up in the resulting incident as they attempted to avoid, bringing out the caution.
Racing resumed with one hour and 30 minutes remaining, with Straus continuing to run inside the top half of the GS field. She subsequently lost one position to Yeany to fall back to P23, but recovered another place when the #96 BMW of Barletta ran deep into the grass, moving the #24 Mercedes back into P22.
As the race entered its strategic phase, Murillo Racing opted to extend Straus' opening stint, allowing her to remain on track while a number of rivals made their first pit stops. The strategy temporarily elevated the #24 Mercedes as high as eighth overall.
Straus eventually brought the Mercedes into pit lane and handed the car over to Kenny Murillo, who rejoined in P23 as the various strategies began to converge.
Murillo immediately continued the recovery, gaining a position when Liefooghe's #19 Ford Mustang made its own pit stop and moving the #24 into 19th. The position was short-lived, however, as Johnson's #59 Kohr Ford moved ahead, dropping Murillo back to 20th before Robby Foley also got past.
The team subsequently brought Murillo back into the pits for a second fuel stop, with the #24 Mercedes rejoining 21st in GS with approximately 40 minutes remaining.
Murillo continued to circulate cleanly and was able to recover another position with 30 minutes remaining as the race entered its final stages.
The closing portion of the race was again interrupted by another caution after the #23 car of Plumb lost its rear bumper with 11 minutes remaining, scattering debris across the circuit and forcing another Full Course Yellow. Plumb was subsequently shown the mechanical black flag and required to pit to repair the damage, promoting Murillo to 19th under caution.
The race finally returned to green with five and a half minutes remaining, giving the field only a short window in which to make further progress. Murillo kept the #24 Mercedes out of trouble during the final restart, but another incident involving Robert Noaker's #13 Ford brought out yet another Full Course Yellow. With the race unable to resume before the chequered flag, Murillo crossed the line in 17th position before the #24 Mercedes was promoted to P16.
The result represented another determined recovery for the team, with Straus and Murillo gaining nine positions from their starting spot while navigating a race dominated by varying pit strategies. Although the result fell short of the top-ten pace the pair have demonstrated at several points during the season, the #24 Murillo Racing Mercedes added another solid result to their campaign.
After eight rounds, Straus and Murillo sit 20th in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge championship standings with 1,110 points, with two rounds remaining in the 2026 season.
The championship now moves toward its final stages, with the next round scheduled for Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 18-20.
