“We had a productive weekend at VIR, but, unfortunately, didn’t have the end result we hoped for" - Taylor Hagler secured a sixth-place finish at Virginia International Raceway, after an ill-timed full course yellow derailed her chances of a podium finish after leading the race early on.
Taylor Hagler and teammate Bryson Morris continued their streak of top-10 finishes in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with a sixth-place result at Virginia International Raceway. Morris won the pole for the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian team and drove a superb opening stint as he led the field for the opening half of the two-hour race.
Misfortune with a full course yellow period saw his sizeable lead cut, with Hagler driving well to take the checkered flag in sixth position.
Following a strong second half to the season, Hagler and teammate Bryson Morris have become consistent podium contenders in the TCR class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. A potential trip to the rostrum was thwarted by late-race contact at Road America, however the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian pair maintained their run of top-10 results. Following a top-5 finish at Virginia International Raceway last year, coupled with a victory in 2022, Hagler was confident of a good finish and a return to the podium.
Commenting ahead of the event, Hagler said "Hard to believe we are headed to VIR already and the final three races of the year are ahead already. VIR is where I scored my first IMSA race win and holds a special place in my career as a result."
"Bryson and I have had good outings at the previous races and we know that we have what it takes for a podium result. We will put our heads down and execute as we need to in order to fight for a spot on the podium again at VIR this weekend."
On-track action at Virginia International Raceway began on Friday with two free practice sessions ahead of qualifying on Saturday morning. In the first session, which was disrupted by a red flag period, Hagler and Morris set the ninth fastest time in TCR with the entire class covered by less than two seconds.
Further improvements were made in session two with the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian duo setting the third quickest time in class, less than half a second away from the pacesetting JDC-Miller Motorsport Audi RS3.
In a change from the regular procedure, teammate Bryson Morris got behind the wheel for the fifteen-minute qualifying session on Saturday morning. Morris showed excellent pace throughout the session which saw him claim a stunning pole position by over half a second, while the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian team locked out the front row.
Following his impressive performance in qualifying, Morris took the start of the two-hour race. A fantastic initial launch saw him hold the lead through the opening turns with Morris building a comfortable margin at the head of the TCR class field. Opening out a lead of half a second over Mark Wilkins after lap one, the top-three drivers began to break away from the field with championship leader Chris Miller chasing the leading Hyundais.
By lap three, the leaders were already into the slower GS class traffic with Ted Giovanis the first driver to negotiate. After Miller went off-course and into the tyre barrier on lap six, this allowed the leading pair to open up a large advantage of the remainder of the TCR field, with Morris also setting the fastest lap of the race shortly after. Another fastest lap came on lap 10 as Bryson continued to build his advantage at the head of the field.
On lap 14, the margin over Wilkins had grown to five seconds while the gap to third had opened out to 15 seconds showing both the speed and consistency of Morris. The lead margin doubled to ten seconds by the start of lap 25, with the margin approaching half a minute to those outside of a provisional podium spot.
Morris was looking to hand over the car to Hagler with a sizeable margin, however their strategy was thwarted when Moisey Uretsky stopped out on track on lap 28 and caused the first full course yellow period of the race.
During the pit sequence, Bryson was able to assume the overall lead of the race as the GS cars made their first pitstop, with Morris then bringing his car to the attention of his crew. Hagler got behind the wheel during the scheduled stop and rejoined the race in third position as the race remained under a controlled speed. When green flag conditions resumed, Hagler lost out to both Karl Wittmer and teammate Harry Gottsacker while maintaining a position inside the top-5.
A second full course yellow period was then called for after an incident in the GS class with Hagler running in fifth position. On the restart, she lost out to the KMW Motorsports Alfa Romeo Guilietta of Tim Lewis before settling into sixth. The top-8 drivers were now running nose-to-tail with Taylor maintaining a strong pace among the TCR frontrunners.
Hagler continued to race well during the middle portion of her stint as she successfully fought off championship leader Mikey Taylor in his JDC-Miller Motorsports Audi RS3. Although Hagler was now losing touch with the leading drivers, she remained less than ten seconds away from the race lead and was looking for opportunities in the closing stages.
With two laps remaining, Taylor pitted which relieved Hagler of any late race pressure and she was able to take the checkered flag in sixth-position to complete a well-managed race for the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian team.
“We had a productive weekend at VIR, but, unfortunately, didn’t have the end result we hoped for", Hagler commented after the race. "Bryson did a great job in qualifying and the No. 77 BHA crew executed well on strategy and our pitstop. We were in position for a podium result until the last restart. It was tight going into Turn 1 and we all ran out of track. We will bounce back at IMS in September.”
Hagler and Morris enjoyed another strong run at Virginia International Raceway as both drivers displayed great speed. Bryson’s superb qualifying lap was backed-up by an opening stint in which he led every lap while building up a sizable lead. An ill-time full course yellow period derailed their strategy, however Hagler’s second stint was strong as she competed well at the front of the TCR class.
The Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian pair will be targeting a podium finish when the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge returns at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the weekend of 21st/22nd September.
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