VIR IMSA: Vanthoor tops first practice for Porsche
Porsche’s Laurens Vanthoor set the pace in the opening practice session for the GT-only round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Virginia International Raceway.
Photo by: Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images
The session was run in hot and dry conditions, but rain is predicted for this afternoon’s session.
The #912 Porsche had a grassy off in Vanthoor’s hands after a handful of laps. After a pitstop to clean it up he lapped in 1m41.529s, which he soon lowered to 1m41.296s to top the times.
“My first run felt pretty good, but obviously we still have a lot more homework to do,” said Vanthoor.
Nick Tandy made it a Porsche 1-2 in the sister #911 car, while the Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs of Ryan Briscoe and Dirk Muller were third and fourth respectively, ahead of the Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs of Jan Magnussen and Oliver Gavin.
The BMW M8s of John Edwards and Connor de Phillippi rounded out the GTLM runners.
In GT Daytona, the order was much more dynamic and top spot changed hands a number of times.
Jeroen Bleekemolen set the fastest time in his Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG-GT3, a tenth clear of Patrick Long’s Park Place Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R.
There was trouble for the points-leading #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3, which failed to join the session at the green light due to a technical issue. Once remedied, Mario Farnbacher lapped only ninth-fastest.
Session results:
Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 912 |
Earl Bamber
Laurens Vanthoor |
GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'41.296 | |
2 | 911 |
Patrick Pilet
Nick Tandy |
GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'41.435 | 0.139 |
3 | 67 |
Ryan Briscoe
Richard Westbrook |
GTLM | Ford GT | 1'41.478 | 0.182 |
4 | 66 |
Joey Hand
Dirk Muller |
GTLM | Ford GT | 1'41.626 | 0.330 |
5 | 3 |
Jan Magnussen
Antonio Garcia |
GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'41.662 | 0.366 |
6 | 4 |
Oliver Gavin
Tommy Milner |
GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'41.878 | 0.582 |
7 | 24 |
Jesse Krohn
John Edwards |
GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'42.232 | 0.936 |
8 | 25 |
Tom Blomqvist
Connor de Phillippi |
GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'43.019 | 1.723 |
9 | 33 |
Ben Keating
Jeroen Bleekemolen |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'44.336 | 3.040 |
10 | 73 |
Patrick Lindsey
Patrick Long |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'44.677 | 3.381 |
11 | 44 |
John Potter
Andy Lally |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'44.733 | 3.437 |
12 | 14 |
Richard Heistand
Jack Hawksworth |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'44.778 | 3.482 |
13 | 63 |
Cooper MacNeil
Toni Vilander |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'44.835 | 3.539 |
14 | 48 |
Bryan Sellers
Corey Lewis |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'44.961 | 3.665 |
15 | 96 |
Bill Auberlen
Robby Foley |
GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'45.123 | 3.827 |
16 | 76 |
Paul Holton
Matt Plumb |
GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 1'45.280 | 3.984 |
17 | 86 |
Mario Farnbacher
Trent Hindman |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'45.305 | 4.009 |
18 | 74 |
Gar Robinson
Lawson Aschenbach |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG | 1'45.370 | 4.074 |
19 | 57 |
Katherine Legge
Alice Powell |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'45.486 | 4.190 |
20 | 12 |
Frankie Montecalvo
Townsend Bell |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'45.741 | 4.445 |
21 | 9 |
Scott Hargrove
Zacharie Robichon |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'45.789 | 4.493 |
View full results |
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