Pilgrim, Borcheller win VIR 400

Despite the best blocking efforts of Brumos Racing driver David Donohue, Terry Borcheller and Andy Pilgrim drove their Bell Motorsports Chevy-powered Doran to victory this afternoon in the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series VIR 400 at Virginia International Raceway.

With about 45 minutes remaining, Borcheller was steadily reeling in race leader Hurley Haywood in the Brumos Racing Fabcar. But when he approached Donohue, who was five laps down to the leaders, Donohue refused to move over for the hard charging Borcheller, enabling Haywood to hold on to his lead until he had to pit for the final time on lap 62 of the 77-lap race.

Though Borcheller assumed the lead when Haywood stopped, he was not able to get around the intransigent Donohue until Donohue collided with a spinning GT car one lap later.

As luck would have it, Donohue's collision brought out the caution Borcheller needed to make his final pit stop without relinquishing the lead to Haywood.

"It was good there at the end," Borcheller said after his fifth overall win of the season. "We got some yellows, but they were a little too late for my liking. But we pulled it out.

"The 58 car [Donohue] was trying really hard to keep me behind him to help Hurley. He was driving like a guy who wants a championship and knows what he needs to get it. I just needed to be patient, though.

"In a way, it was a bit of relief when he spun because I was beginning to wonder how I was going to get by him."

Borcheller now leads Brumos Racing drivers Donohue and Mike Borkowski by three points in the drivers' championship, with one race remaining.

Haywood and J.C. France finished 2.261 seconds behind the winners, followed by Darren Law and Patrick Huisman in the G&W Motorsports BMW-powered Picchio.

In GTS, Paul Alderman, Steve Lisa, and David Rosenblum captured their first Grand Am victories in the ICY/SL Motorsports Corvette. The Heritage Motorsports Mustang of Tommy Riggins and Dave Machavern overcame contact with another car and over heating problems to finish second.

Cort Wagner and Brent Martini won the GT class for the seventh time in 11 races in their Ferrari 360 GT, finishing four laps ahead of the second place Porsche GT3 of John Littlechild and Wayne Jackson.

The Grand Am season concludes Saturday, November 1 at Daytona International Speedway.