Magnussen, Garcia win IMSA race at Virginia International

DANVILLE, Va. (AP) Corvette Racing teammates Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia race to their first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the season Sunday in the 3-hour, 40-minute race at Virginia International Raceway.

Magnussen started from the pole position in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R and led the first 48 minutes before pitting to turn the car over to Garcia. It took just three laps for Garcia - who resumed in seventh place following the pit stop - to retake the lead.

Garcia led all but three of the remaining laps and held off Dirk Mueller in the No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT on a one-lap dash to the finish following the only full-course caution period, which came out with six minutes remaining when points leader Oliver Gavin crashed the No. 4 Corvette. Garcia's margin of victory was 0.802 seconds.

''It was a very hard race,'' Garcia said. ''My team got me a three- to four-second gap, and then it was a classic green, white, checkered. Not even green then white, it was like white and checkered. It was an amazing race and the Corvette was brilliant.''

Mueller and Joey Hand were second. They won the GTE Pro class in France in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June with Sebastien Bourdais.

Earl Bamber and Frederic Makowiecki were third in the No. 912 Porsche. Bamber took the final spot on the podium from Toni Vilander after contact with Vilander's No. 62 Ferrari on the last lap.

In the GT Daytona class, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow converted Snow's first class pole position into a dominating victory in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. The victory was the first in IMSA competition for the Italian manufacturer.