It’s been a long time coming for Risi Competizione, but Finnish hotshoe Toni Vilander returned the team and its trademark No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE to the pole position in IMSA SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class qualifying for Sunday’s AMERICA’S TIRE 250 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The headline race of the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix weekend will be televised live on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET on FS1. IMSA Radio also will have live, flag-to-flag coverage on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio.

After topping the time charts at the end of Friday’s opening practice day, Vilander backed it up Saturday afternoon in the 15-minute qualifying session. Vilander posted a best lap of 1 minute, 21.914 (98.356 mph) to score his first career WeatherTech Championship pole and fourth in IMSA competition. He previously earned three American Le Mans Series poles.

The most recent pole for the Risi team prior to Saturday came courtesy of Pierre Kaffer at VIRginia International Raceway in 2014, a race the team went on to win the following day. Vilander and co-driver Giancarlo Fisichella – who also was part of the 2014 VIR driver lineup – will look to duplicate that performance in Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute race.

“The GTLM field is so tough nowadays that you need to have everything in the right place,” Vilander said. “You need to have the right tires, you need to be exactly spot on with the setup of the car. We’ve been doing a good job the whole year. We’ve been performing well. We had some unfortunate races and unfortunate situations during the season, but it shows again the potential of the team and the car. Today, it was just a pleasure to drive the car.”

Vilander outqualified his next closest GTLM competitor, Dirk Mueller, by 0.242 seconds. Mueller’s best lap was a 1:22.156 (98.067 mph) in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT he shares with Sacramento’s Joey Hand competing in what amounts to a “hometown race” in Monterey.

John Edwards – who won the GTLM race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2015 with then-co-driver Lucas Luhr – will start third in class Sunday in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM. Edwards’ turned in a best time of 1:22.177 (98.042 mph) in the car he shares with Martin Tomczyk.

Eight of nine cars in GTLM qualified within one second.

Snow Extends Lamborghini TOTAL Pole Award Streak to Four at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

When it comes to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) qualifying lately, the race car of choice has been the Lamborghini Huracán GT3.

Madison Snow and the Paul Miller Racing team reinforced that point once again on Saturday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, earning the fourth consecutive GTD TOTAL Pole Award for Lamborghini in qualifying for Sunday’s AMERICA’S TIRE 250. Snow turned a best lap of 1 minute, 24.469 seconds (95.381 mph) around the 2.238-mile circuit in the No. 48 Lamborghini and will lead a 16-car GTD field to the green flag just past 2 p.m. PT Sunday afternoon.

“The fourth pole for Lamborghini is a big thing,” Snow said. “For sure, it’s different than winning the races, four races in a row. It means we have the pace, but it’s hard to go into the race and see where we go. Hopefully, we’ll do good. Starting on the pole, it’s a difficult track to pass on with the amount of grip the track has, just due to the sand and the temperature environment that we have here. Hopefully, it makes it a lot more difficult for us to be passed by other people.”

The pole was the second of the year and third of Snow’s WeatherTech Championship career. He started the current four-race pole streak for Lamborghini in qualifying for July’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. The other two Lamborghini poles came from Jeroen Mul in the No. 16 Change Racing Huracán at Road America and VIRginia International Raceway in August.

It was the 10th WeatherTech Championship pole for Paul Miller Racing and the third of the year for the team, as Snow’s co-driver, Bryan Sellers, claimed the TOTAL Pole Award in April’s BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach.

Snow will share the GTD front row with 2017 Rolex 24 At Daytona winner Daniel Morad, who qualified the No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R second with a best time of 1:24.721 (95.098 mph). Morad’s co-driver for the weekend is Porsche factory driver Patrick Long.

Porsches took second and third in GTD qualifying, as Patrick Lindsey put the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports 911 GT3 R third on the grid at 1:24.954 (94.837 mph). Lindsey and co-driver Joerg Bergmeister will go in search of their second GTD victory of the season on Sunday. They previously won at Lime Rock Park.

The top five cars in GTD were covered by less than one second.

The last time Ozz Negri raced at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, he and then-co-driver John Pew stood atop the overall podium with a Prototype class victory aboard the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Honda/Ligier prototype.

Since then, Pew retired from competition and Negri and the Shank team switched to the GT Daytona (GTD) class with a pair of new Acura NSX GT3 race cars.

But Friday’s GTD practice session finished with a similar result for Negri, who led the class with a best lap of 1:25.25.253 (94.504 mph) in the No. 86 machine he co-drives with Jeff Segal.

“It was two very different sessions today,” Negri said. “FP1 was pretty cold and very slippery, FP2 the track had a little more grip and temperature. The changes that we were able to make, we nailed them.

“At the end of the session, I was able to get two clean laps and put it together and make the most out of it."

"It’s still just the first day, but it’s always good to end the day P1. We’re working hard to make it better and we will make it better. It’s just a great start to the weekend and we hope we can finish strong too.”

Canadian racer Daniel Morad, who won the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in the GTD class, was second quickest in GTD practice, clocking a best time of 1:25.354 (94.392 mph) in the No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. Morad’s co-driver this weekend is longtime Porsche factory driver Patrick Long.

Third-quickest in GTD was another Porsche factory driver, Joerg Bergmeister, in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R at 1:25.385 (94.358 mph). Bergmeister and co-driver Patrick Lindsey are looking for their second victory of the season after taking the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in July.

Lindsey also owns a GTD victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, winning in 2015 with co-driver Spencer Pumpelly.

Since returning from a midseason hiatus in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway last month, the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE team and co-drivers Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella have been extremely competitive in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.

The No. 62 team contended for the victory before coming home third and Friday afternoon, Vilander clocked the quickest time of the GTLM class in AMERICA’S TIRE 250 practice. The Finnish racer’s best time was 1:22.635 (97.498 mph).

“It was good,” Vilander said. “We went through our normal program. I think this race is my turn to qualify, so I was trying to get that first feel for the fresh Michelin tires for tomorrow for the quali."

"The car is handling pretty well, but the track surface is hard on tires. Also, the traffic, after VIR where we were only the GTLM and GTD cars, now it’s back to the chaos again with all the traffic."

"I need to refresh a little bit in my mind and give space, especially to the DPis, which are pretty aggressive. Then, we’ll see from there the evolution of the racetrack and try to follow it. We’ll stick to our plan as always." He added

Second quickest was Alexander Sims in the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM with a time of 1:23.054 (97.006 mph) in the car he shares with Bill Auberlen.

Third was the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R driven by Oliver Gavin to a best time of 1:23.234 (96.796 mph). 

n the most recent IMSA SportsCar Championship Prototype race last month at Road America, co-drivers Pipo Derani and Johannes van Overbeek drove the No. 22 Nissan DPi to its first victory, leading a 1-3 finish for the team with Ryan Dalziel and Scott Sharp taking third in the No. 2 Tequila Patrón machine, one spot behind runners-up Jordan and Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R.

Friday afternoon at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, it was Dalziel’s turn. The Scotsman posted a best lap of 1 minute, 18.206 seconds (103.257 mph), topping the time charts on the first day of practice for Sunday’sAMERICA’S TIRE 250, the headline event of the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix.

The race will be televised live on FS1 beginning at 5 p.m. ET, with live, flag-to-flag coverage also provided by IMSA Radio on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio.

Dalziel’s best lap was 0.086 seconds quicker than Prototype points leader Ricky Taylor’s 1:18.112 (103.144 mph) in the afternoon session. He thinks there’s more where that came from.

“It’s Day 1 in practice, so I’m sure everybody is holding a little bit back,” Dalziel said. .

“We’re obviously happy to start where we finished the last race. We’ll be happier to reverse the roles and put the 2 car ahead of the 22, but it’s early. The car feels good. It’s not perfect yet.

“It’s hard to have a perfect car at Laguna Seca. We made a good change from Practice 1 to Practice 2. We’ll see what we can do overnight."

"I think we still have a bit more time in it. I think we had a bit more time also in that lap if we’d have just got a little bit of a cleaner lap. We’re happy with what we’ve got, but there’s a long way to go.”

Derani was third quickest Friday with a best lap of 1:18.449 in the No. 22 Nissan. This weekend’s race is the first at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Tequila Patrón ESM team since van Overbeek led the team to victory alongside co-driver Ed Brown in 2014.