Garcia, Magnussen race to third IMSA win of season

ALTON, Va. (AP) Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia won at Virginia International Raceway on Sunday for their third IMSA SportsCar Championship victory of the season.

Garcia took the lead in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with just over 12 minutes remaining in the 2 hour, 40-minute race when Alexander Sims - who had dominated with Bill Auberlen in the No. 25 BMW - made a late pit stop. Garcia finished 12.031 seconds ahead of the No. 67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook, and they increased their season lead to 16 points over Sims and Auberlen.

''It's unbelievable for us to come away with a win,'' Magnussen said. ''Honestly, in the middle of the race, it kind of looked like a situation ofm `OK, we aren't losing too much in the championship, a couple of points here, a couple of points there, but we would still stay in the lead of the championship.'

''Then, for things to turn around like they did in the last half hour with the BMW coming up short (on fuel) and the Ferrari falling off, it was a crazy, absolutely crazy result. Such a fantastic result for the whole team.''

Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella were third in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.

Sims and Auberlen ended up fourth.

The GT-only event showcased only the IMSA series' GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes. In the GTD class, Jeroen Mul and Corey Lewis capped a weekend sweep by leading all 91 laps in the No. 16 Lighting Lamborghini Huracan GT3. It was the first career IMSA win for Mul, Lewis and Change Racing, and the first win of the season for Lamborghini.