Danville, Virginia - Elliott Skeer prevailed in a frantic, race-long duel with Angel Benitez Jr. to win Round 11 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama on Saturday, Aug. 22 at VIRginia International Raceway.

Skeer, from Carlsbad, California, also regained the lead in the Platinum Cup Drivers Championship with his fourth victory of the season in the No. 14 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Skeer leads Jesse Lazare, 171-154. It's the largest gap of the season between the two young stars, the only drivers to lead the standings.

Lazare, from Montreal, entered this weekend with a three-point lead over Skeer but was scoreless after crash damage forced an end to his race right after the green flag flew at the start.

"Good points day for us, and I am really happy, " Skeer said. "We just have to keep it up for tomorrow's two races."

Two rounds will take place Sunday on the 17-turn, 3.27-mile circuit - Round 12 and the rescheduled Round 4.

Michael Schein, from New York, ended up a season-best second in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche, 6.950 seconds behind Skeer. Lucas Catania, from Cazenovia, New York, earned his second consecutive third-place finish in the No. 26 NGT Motorsport Porsche.

Andrew Longe, from Naples, Florida, placed fourth in the No. 47 Fall-Line Motorsports Porsche. Santiago Creel, from Mexico City, rounded out the top five in the No. 60 Wright Motorsports Porsche.

Bill Peluchiwski, from Chicago, finished sixth in the No. 74 Kelly-Moss Motorsports entry and was the top Platinum Masters finisher.

Jeff Mosing, from Austin, Texas, padded his lead in the Gold Cup and Gold Masters class with a victory in the No. 01 TOPP Racing Porsche.

Skeer led the entire race from pole, but his margin of victory of 6.950 seconds was deceptive. Benitez, from Miami, hung within a few tenths of a second of Skeer for most of the 45-minute race.

With one lap remaining, the gap between leader Skeer and chaser Benitez was .115 of a second. Each driver had points of superiority around the challenging circuit, setting up a compelling final dash for the checkered flag.

But Benitez was fighting a steering rack issue in his No. 05 JDX Racing Porsche for the entire race, and the problem bit him on the final lap when he went off track and nosed into the tire barrier in Turn 3, ending his race. Benitez, who was unhurt, was credited with 13th place.

Skeer drove away to victory. Again, it was a deceptively peaceful cruise to glory after a thrilling race.

The most dramatic and potentially decisive incident occurred right when the green flag flew to start the race.

Lazare's car slowed after it would not upshift into gear as the field approached the starter's stand. Longe was right behind Lazare and veered right to avoid hitting him. Longe's car made contact with Platinum Masters points leader Kasey Kuhlman, sending Kuhlman's No. 15 Wright Motorsports Porsche into the front straightaway wall. Lazare's 911 GT3 Cup car also was collected in the accident, suffering heavy front-end damage after also hitting the front straightaway wall.

Kuhlman and Lazare were out of the race, credited with 20th and 21st place, respectively.

The ensuing thrilling duel between Skeer and Benitez wasn't the only one-on-one battle for the podium. Schein and Catania stayed within tenths of a second of each other for most of the race.

"Lucas ran me clean," Schein said. "We both ran clean. It was a good battle. I had to hit my marks every lap, every corner, just make sure we had no mistakes."

Platinum Masters

Peluchiwski capitalized on Kuhlman's early exit to earn his first class victory of the season.

He avoided the chaos at the start but lost a few positions in the field. Once Peluchiwski passed the leading Gold Cup car of Mosing, he clicked off consistent laps to earn the victory.

Peluchiwski also earned the Yokohama Hard Charger Award for finishing sixth overall after starting 13th. The win came after Kelly-Moss Motorsports repaired Peluchiwski's Porsche after he crashed during testing Thursday.

"I came off my incident in practice Thursday," Peluchiwski said. "They put the car back together. It was a little bit difficult getting here, but it was great to cap it off with a victory. I'm really happy."

Jay Patel, from Crown Point, Indiana, finished second in the No. 00 Kelly-Moss Motorsports Porsche for his fourth podium finish of the season. Patel held on to second in the Platinum Masters standings, leading teammate Peluchiwski by one point.

Patel climbed to second after a late pass of David Baker, who ended up third in the No. 56 TOPP Racing Porsche. This was the second podium finish of the season for Baker, from Colleyville, Texas.

Gold Cup/Gold Masters

Mosing earned his fourth Gold Cup and sixth Gold Masters victories of the season, leading every lap from pole.

But much like winner Skeer in Platinum Cup, nothing was easy for Mosing in this race. Sebastian Landy, from Falls Church, Virginia, was in range of Mosing for the first 14 minutes of the race before suffering damage to his No. 49 Champ 1 Motorsport Porsche in a crash before the Esses.

That gave Mosing a comfortable lead, and he deftly avoided the crippled car of Will Hardeman after Hardeman rejoined the track after a crash in Turn 5 approximately halfway through the race.

Mosing drove to victory by 9.825 seconds over Mark Llano in the No. 22 NGT Motorsport Porsche. Llano, from Wellington, Florida, earned his third Gold Cup and Gold Masters podium finishes.

"Really was lucky at the start of the race that I was far back enough not to get involved with the incident at the start," Mosing said. "I was really upset for Landy because I wanted he and I to put our heads down and have a good race. Unfortunately I think he got collected up at the top of the Esses."

Mosing expanded his lead to 63 points over Joe Catania in Gold Cup and 54 points over Llano in Gold Masters.

Max Tullman, from Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, celebrated his 18th birthday today by finishing third in his first series start in the No. 96 Tullman Walker Racing Porsche.

Catania, from Cazenovia, New York, finished third in Gold Masters in the No. 24 NGT Motorsport Porsche.

Up Next

Round 12 and the rescheduled Round 4 will take place Sunday, Aug. 23. Round 12 will start at 9:20 a.m. (ET), while Round 4 - rained out at NOLA Motorsports Park and Watkins Glen - is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. The races are 45 minutes each.

Live streaming of both races will be available at www.imsa.com. For live timing, visit scoring.imsa.com or the new IMSA mobile app for iOS, Android or Windows.

For live updates on all the action, follow @IMSALive on Twitter.

For more information about Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama, visit www.gt3cupchallengeusa.com, follow hashtag #GT3USA @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook.

ROUND 11 POST-RACE QUOTES:

ELLIOTT SKEER (No. 14 Wright Motorsports, winner): "That was a fun race. The team did an amazing job with the car this whole week. From the start, it was quite the race. The accident from the very start was unfortunate, and I am still not quite sure what happened. Not only for Kasey (Kuhlman) and Jesse (Lazare) to go out: It hurts the whole championship and it hurts both of them, so I hope they are both OK. Angel (Benitez Jr.) and I kind of settled in. He made a small mistake coming out of Oak Tree but caught right back up. This is a pretty tough place to pass, so I just made sure to get as wide as I could and just tried to make it as hard for him as possible. He was right there, and he had some very creative moves. He gave me a run for money there. He was insanely quick today. It was unfortunate what happened to him on the last lap, and I hope he is OK. Good points day for us, and I am really happy. We just have to keep it up for tomorrow's two races."

MICHAEL SCHEIN (No. 16 Wright Motorsports, second): "Lucas (Catania) ran me clean. We both ran clean. It was a good battle. I had to hit my marks every lap, every corner, just make sure we had no mistakes. It's a tough place to pass here, so if you can keep it ahead and you don't make any mistakes, you'll be all right. The Wright guys gave me a great car, so I was able to bring it home in second."

LUCAS CATANIA (No. 26 NGT Motorsport, third): "It was a great race, for sure. It was clean but hard. VIR is a tough place to pass. NGT Motorsport gave me an awesome car. It was very good throughout the race. I was having a ball out here, really, and I really appreciate Michael (Schein) racing me the way that he did. It makes everyone a better driver. I'm happy I was able to get a podium after starting eighth, but NGT and Porsche Motorsport are great, and I can't thank everyone enough."

BILL PELUCHIWSKI (No. 74 Kelly-Moss Motorsports, first Platinum Masters, Yokohama Hard Charger Award): (Did you know Kasey Kuhlman was involved in incident at start?): "No, I didn't know. I didn't know until the restart. I was like, 'Where's Kasey?' I'm like, 'Hmm, OK, all right.' Jeff (Mosing) was in front of me, and that caused a little bit of a delay in getting around. That was the point of the race, getting around him. After that, I just kind of managed the gap. That was good. I came off my incident in practice Thursday. They put the car back together. It was a little bit difficult getting here, but it was great to cap it off with a victory. I'm really happy."

JAY PATEL (No. 00 Kelly-Moss Motorsports, second Platinum Masters): "The start of the race was very interesting. I saw the incident on the straightaway, and I had to avoid it. For me to avoid it, I had to end up in the grass, and I had to keep the car from spinning. That's when Bill (Peluchiwski) and a couple other guys got ahead of me. I just had to put my head down and just focus on trying to get ahead of (David) Baker and try to catch up to Bill. It was basically about survival. And then I got caught up in another incident in which I ended up in the grass, too. So it was one of those things, just try not to make any errors and just keep focusing on the ultimate goal of trying to get up to Bill and get into first place. I had a few little hiccups at the end, and battling Baker was really tough."

DAVID BAKER (No. 56 TOPP Racing, third Platinum Masters): "I want to thank the folks from TOPP Racing for giving me a great car this weekend. The car was really consistent. We had our fastest laps the last three laps. Like so many races in the series, if you stay out of trouble, you'll do well and you can race there toward the end. Jay (Patel) and I were going door handle to door handle around a lot of corners. He's a great racer. He had me on the brakes in Turn 1 so bad. He was schooling me. I tried to learn from him, but I'm a slow learner. I'll get him next time."

JEFF MOSING (No. 01 TOPP Racing, winner Gold Cup, Gold Masters): "(About avoiding other drivers' spins while leading): "There were a few of them. You've got to make a decision if you are going to go left or right and knowing that somebody's right behind me, I committed to go left of (Will) Hardeman, I think it was. So that was a little bit of a moment. I just wanted to make sure I got control of the car and got back on track. Really was lucky at the start of the race that I was far back enough not to get involved with the incident at the start. I was really upset for (Sebastian) Landy because I wanted he and I to put our heads down and have a good race. Unfortunately I think he got collected up at the top of the Esses. I was able to get around it, but he was too close to really see what was going on. Todd Opperman and Paul, they did a wonderful job with the car, and I am really proud of them. I had a friend back home that lost his battle with lymphoma, so I would like to dedicate this win to him. Carlos Ostrella. We're praying for you and your family. I would like to thank Porsche Motorsport North America and Yokohama Tires for a great series."

MARK LLANO (No. 22 NGT Motorsport, second Gold Cup, Gold Masters): "At the start of the race, it was just trying to survive the IED's that seemed to be going off in front of us. Then there was another big crash at the top of the hill, coming out of the Esses, trying to avoid that. But I think overall, I'm kind of actually surprised, it was a good, clean race. NGT gave me a great car. We had no promoter test day practicing, and we came out strong on the first session and blew three radiators right away. So just real thankful for the team and the crew. This is a track where the ghosts and the goblins take you off the track and pull you in the grass. It's a very technical track. This race is dedicated to the veterans. I want to thank IMSA and Yokohama. I appreciate all the fans who are supporting the mission for our veterans at SERKET Racing."

MAX TULLMAN (No. 96 Tullman Walker Racing, third Gold Cup): (About celebrating 18th birthday with podium finish in first series start): "This is great. To be here with my dad and the whole team, Endo Pharmaceuticals, our sponsor - couldn't be here without them. Flat out for taking care of us and getting the car ready this weekend. Those guys just worked day and night for us. We really appreciate those guys." (About race): "There's so much room for error, but luckily we stayed out of the mess and the debris on the track. There was a lot."

JOE CATANIA (No. 24 NGT Motorsport, third Gold Masters): (About avoiding incidents): "It was really luck. When you come over the blind Esses in the table top up there at South Bend, I just saw smoke and car body parts in the air. I tried to brake a little bit. You're going well over 100 mph, so the car kind of starts twisting, so I just steered it off into the grass to try to avoid direct hits. Then I was sliding, too. Luckily, I made it through the crash on the inside downhill, and it took me awhile to get going again. But luckily no damage to the car and managed to put it back together to at least run some laps. Overall, it was a good race for driving-wise. The track, it was the first race we've done here. I love the track, love the experience, and the (NGT) guys are great. All good."

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama enters its 11th season in 2015 as one of the largest of Porsche's 20 single-make Cup Challenge series in the world. The series produces intense, exciting competition for semi-professional and aspiring professional drivers in the world's most produced and iconic race car, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

Racing is divided into two classes - Platinum Cup, featuring the 2014 and 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, which is based on the current seventh, and current, generation of the street car, and Gold Cup, which is comprised of the previous iteration (model years 2010-2013) of the race car. A Masters Championship also is conducted in Platinum and Gold classes. Each class is awarded with its own podium at the end of every race and individual champion at the end of every season. Points are awarded by finish in class.

ABOUT IMSA

The International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 with a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda, as well as four single-make series: Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama; Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin; Ferrari Challenge North America; and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America. IMSA - a company within the NASCAR Holdings group - is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected TUDOR Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.