Steven Aghakhani Wins VP Racing Challenge Race No. 1 at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – MLT Motorsports’ Steven Aghakhani was able to take advantage of Performance Tech Motorsports’ Alex Kirby going wide in turn 2 with two laps to go to retake the lead Saturday afternoon (Jan. 20). Aghakhani was able to hold on from there to win the first IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race of the year at Daytona International Speedway.

Aghakhani won by 1.238 seconds over Kirby. Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware, racing for the first time since he was suspended (and later reinstated) by NASCAR, finished third. FastMD Racing’s Marco Kacic was fourth, while US RaceTronics’ Brian Theines was fifth.

Aghakhani started from the pole in his Ligier JS P320-Nissan, but Alex Kirby was able to take away the advantage entering the Le Mans chicane on the first lap. Aghakhani posited after the race that Kirby had more temperatures in his rear tires prior to the start, a consequence of having never raced a prototype before.

Meanwhile, Cody Ware, making his return to racing after criminal charges were dismissed against him, had a tough start. He started fifth, but charged a little too hot into turn 1. As a result, Ware spun out his Ligier. He was able to continue, but lost track position.

The race’s sole full course caution came out with 17 minutes to go when Archangel Motorsports’ Robbie McWilliams spun in the Le Mans chicane and hit the tires. That brought everyone back together for a final sprint to the finish.

Kirby tried to open up a gap on Aghakhani, but could not do so. The first lap after the restart, Aghakhani attempted to sweep around Kirby in the tri-oval, but failed. A lap later, Aghakhani tried again and got further alongside Kirby.

The second attempt failed as well. However, Kirby had to defend more vigorously. That resulted in the slip as he went too hard into turn 2. That was all Aghakhani needed for the win.

For Aghakhani, this was his first race at all in over a year. In 2022, Aghakhani raced full-time in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS for US RaceTronics alongside Loris Spinelli. That team moved to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship last year, but Aghakhani chose not to follow (that team is now known as Forte Racing).

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