VIR IMSA: Garcia leads second practice for Corvette
Chevrolet’s Antonio Garcia led the second IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship practice session at Virginia International Raceway on Friday, lapping over half a second clear of his rivals.
#3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, GTLM - Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen
Peter Burke / Motorsport Images
Garcia set the fastest lap of 1m41.743s just before the halfway point of the hour-long session. Tommy Milner soon made it a Chevy 1-2, on 1m42.351s – the fastest of three laps he recorded within one hundredth of a second of each other.
But Ryan Briscoe then split the Corvettes with a 1m42.262s, 0.519s off the pace but a tenth faster than Milner.
His teammate Richard Westbrook, who was fastest this morning, reported: “The car is definitely better than last year, I wasn’t comfortable in it at all then. But I’m not sure what Antonio had for breakfast!
“We knew the Corvettes would come into form in this part of the season, so it’s going to be tough.”
Dirk Muller finished fourth in the #66 Ford GT on 1m42.670s, ahead of Nick Tandy in the fastest Porsche, lapping in 1m42.712s. Tandy led the sister #912 car, driven by Laurens Vanthoor, by a tenth and a half.
Alexander Sims and John Edwards were slowest of the GTLM runners in their BMW M8s.
In GT Daytona, Jeroen Bleekemolen led the way in his Mercedes, ahead of the impressive Robby Foley in the Turner-run BMW M6.
A brief red flag was required as Road America GTD class winner Christina Nielsen was off track at the final corner in her Wright Motorsports Porsche 911, before driving back to the pits with no damage.
Patrick Long then took over and recorded the third quickest time in the car, ahead of the Lexus of Jack Hawksworth.
Session results:
Pos | Num | Drivers | Class | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | Jan Magnussen Antonio Garcia |
GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'41.743 | |
2 | 67 | Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook |
GTLM | Ford GT | 1'42.262 | 0.519 |
3 | 4 | Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner |
GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'42.351 | 0.608 |
4 | 66 | Joey Hand Dirk Muller |
GTLM | Ford GT | 1'42.670 | 0.927 |
5 | 911 | Nick Tandy Patrick Pilet |
GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'42.712 | 0.969 |
6 | 912 | Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor |
GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'42.866 | 1.123 |
7 | 25 | Connor de Phillippi Alexander Sims |
GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'42.934 | 1.191 |
8 | 24 | John Edwards Jesse Krohn |
GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'43.151 | 1.408 |
9 | 33 | Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'44.865 | 3.122 |
10 | 96 | Bill Auberlen Robby Foley |
GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'44.866 | 3.123 |
11 | 58 | Patrick Long Christina Nielsen |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'45.046 | 3.303 |
12 | 15 | David Heinemeier Hansson Jack Hawksworth |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'45.182 | 3.439 |
13 | 44 | Andy Lally John Potter |
GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 1'45.257 | 3.514 |
14 | 86 | Katherine Legge Mario Farnbacher |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'45.481 | 3.738 |
15 | 14 | Kyle Marcelli Dominik Baumann |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'45.504 | 3.761 |
16 | 93 | Justin Marks Lawson Aschenbach |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'45.727 | 3.984 |
17 | 63 | Cooper MacNeil Gunnar Jeannette |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'45.999 | 4.256 |
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