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).