IMSA VIR start times: The WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT race Sunday at Virginia International Raceway will return to its traditional late August weekend after being run in October last season.

It’s the last event run without prototypes this season, which will conclude Oct. 1 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

There are 18 cars entered in the GTD Pro (five entries) and GTD (13) classes at VIR.

The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche is the defending race GTD winner, and the team’s driver lineup of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell enters this weekend with the points lead in GTD Pro.

In GTD, the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 leads a five-team battle for the championship over a 125-point margin.

The title picture should become clearer on the 17-turn, 3.27-mile road course that is known for precision and rhythm.

✨It’s almost time for 𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 11 at @VIRNow✨ You won’t want to miss the Michelin GT Challenge action on Sunday, August 28th at 2PM E.T.

📺 Flag-to-flag LIVE coverage on @CNBC. 🌏 For International and Canada coverage: https://t.co/Othz8r6VaH#IMSA | #MichelinVIR | #VIR pic.twitter.com/7S3CYbFCsF

“It’s quite a unique place,” No. 25 BMW Team RLL M4 GT3 driver John Edwards. “It’s definitely difficult to get the setup right, but it’s also difficult to nail a lap as a driver. You have to be on it on the fine, technical stuff in the low-speed (turns), especially the way those corners feed into each other.”

Said No. 3 Corvette driver Antonio Garcia, who has three GTLM victories at VIR: “There are a few tracks where we have to find aero balance like this. I would consider this track like Canadian Tire Motorsport Park or Watkins Glen where there are fast speeds and slow sections, but you probably need to take care of your top speed. At times, it pays to be a little lighter on downforce and being fast on the straights.”

Here are the start times, starting lineup, schedule and TV info for the IMSA Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Virginia (all times are ET):

WHEN: Sunday, 2 p.m. ET

RACE DISTANCE: Two hours, 40 minutes on the 17-turn, 3.27-mile road course

FORECAST: According to Wunderground.com, it’s expected to be 87degrees with a 15% chance of rain at the green flag.

ENTRY LIST: Click here to see the 18-car field over two divisions (GTD Pro, GTD) for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.

PRACTICE RESULTS: Session I I Session II l Warmup

QUALIFYING: Results l By Class l Fastest lap by driver l Best sector times l Fastest lap sequence

STARTING LINEUP: Click here for the grid l By car number

STREAMING/TV: Live coverage will begin at 2 p.m. ET on USA and Peacock.

Leigh Diffey is the announcer with analyst Calvin Fish. Kevin Lee and Matt Yocum will report from the pits.

The governing body for Formula One on Friday said IndyCar star Colton Herta will not be granted the Super License that the American needs to join the F1 grid next season.

“The FIA confirms that an enquiry was made via the appropriate channels that led to the FIA confirming that the driver Colton Herta does not have the required number of points to be granted an FIA Super Licence,” the FIA said in a statement.

The FIA decision was not a surprise.

Red Bull was interested in the 22-year-old Californian and considering giving Herta a seat at AlphaTauri, its junior team. AlphaTauri has already said that Pierre Gasly will return next season and Yuki Tsunoda received a contract extension earlier this week.

However, AlphaTauri has acknowledged it would release Gasly, who is apparently wanted at Alpine, but only if it had a compelling driver such as Herta to put in the car. F1 has not had an American on the grid since Alexander Rossi in 2015, but Herta did not particularly want the FIA to make an exception to the licensing system to get him a seat.

At issue is how the FIA rates IndyCar, a series it does not govern. The points it awards to IndyCar drivers rank somewhere between F2 and F3, the two junior feeder series into F1.

IndyCar drivers have criticized the system in defense of Herta and the intense, close racing of their own highly competitive series. Herta has won seven IndyCar races, is the youngest winner in series history and has four starts in the Indianapolis 500. He qualified on the front row in 2021 and finished a career-best eighth in 2020.

Rossi, who has spent the last four seasons as Herta’s teammate at Andretti Autosport, lashed out this week because “I’m so sick and tired of this back and forth” regarding the licensing.

“The whole premise of it was to keep people from buying their way into F1 and allowing talent to be the motivating factor,” Rossi wrote on social media. “That’s great. We all agree Colton has the talent and capability to be in F1. That’s also great and he should get that opportunity if it’s offered to him. Period.

“Motorsport still remains as the most high profile sport in the world where money can outweigh talent. What is disappointing and in my opinion, the fundamental problem, is that the sporting element so often took a backseat to the business side that here had to be a method put in place in order for certain teams to stop taking drivers solely based on their financial backing.”

Rossi added those decisions “whether out of greed or necessity, is what cost Colton the opportunity to make the decision for himself as to if he wanted to alter career paths and race in F1. Not points on a license.”

The system favors drivers who compete in FIA-sanctioned series. For example, Linus Lundqvist earned his Super License by winning the Indy Lights championship.

Lundqvist’s required points come via the 15 he earned for the Lights title, 10 points for finishing third in Lights last year and his 2020 victory in the FIA-governed Formula Regional Americas Championship, which earned him 18 points.

That gave the 23-year-old Swede a total of 43 points, three more than needed for the license.

Herta, meanwhile, ended the IndyCar season with 32 points. He can still earn a Super License by picking up one point for any free practice sessions he runs this year; McLaren holds his F1 rights and could put him in a car. Herta could also potentially run in an FIA-sanctioned winter series to pick up some points.

Michael Andretti, who has petitioned the FIA to expand its grid to add two cars for him to launch a team, said he never bothered to explore potential replacements for Herta on the IndyCar team because he was confident the Super License request would be rejected.

Andretti has been met by severe resistance from existing F1 teams and even F1 itself in his hope to add an 11th team. Andretti could still get on the grid by purchasing an existing team and he’d like to build his program around Herta, who is under contract in IndyCar to Andretti through 2023.