ALTON, Va. — A picture-perfect afternoon provided the perfect opportunity for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers to test the limits of VIRginia International Raceway on Friday, in the opening practice for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. More than a few pushed those limits a tad too far.
Though the 90-minute session ran caution-free under clear skies and ambient temperatures in the low 80s, at least 10 drivers ventured off track at least once in the elusive search for ultimate performance and speed. When the checkered flag waved, Madison Snow topped the timesheet in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3.
Snow’s best lap of 1 minute, 43.561 seconds (113.671 mph) would have set a Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) track record had it come in qualifying or the race. It was nearly four-tenths of a second better than Ross Gunn’s official GTD PRO standard set in 2022 and more than a half-second better than the nearest competitor on Friday.
Snow and co-driver Bryan Sellers are chasing their first GTD PRO win after racing away with the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class championship behind five victories last year – including one at VIR, the last time they went to victory lane. While Friday’s strong launch to the weekend was promising, Snow wasn’t prepared to proclaim his team a favorite to get back to the top step of the podium on Sunday.
“Practice 1 is way too early to say anything about that,” he said. “I don’t think practice means anything for a lot of these teams because they don’t show any time until qualifying comes.
“The car was good but there’s a lot of tire deg, so lap times really drop off at the end of a stint,” Snow added. “So, we’ll have to see where everybody balances out in the next session and qualifying as well.”
When he wasn’t driving the BMW, Snow watched from the pit timing stand and noticed the inordinate number of cars – nearly half of the 23-car field – that took excursions into the grass in the session. Only the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 driven by Harry Tincknell made contact with a barrier, and it was light enough that Tincknell was able to drive back to pit lane and keep the green flag out.
“It was amazing how many people were off track,” Snow said. “It’s usually not something that we see from the GT-only weekends here. That was interesting. We’ll see if that plays a role in the race if there’s more yellows or not.”
GTD PRO points leader Laurin Heinrich in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was second in practice with a lap of 1:44.070 (113.115 mph), followed by Alexander Sims in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R (1:44.315/112.850 mph). The fastest four cars all came from the GTD PRO class, with the top GTD runner fifth overall: Frederik Schandorff in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo (1:44.381/112.778 mph).