DragonSpeed Ferrari leads first VIR practice

Under cloudy skies, preparation for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway got underway with the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 recording the fastest time in the first practice session.

DragonSpeed's lead driver Albert Costa took the Ferrari to the top of the timesheets with a 1m45.032s as his best time, the best in GTD PRO.

Leading GTD was the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Russell Ward, who turned in a 1m45.471s, good for second-best overall out of 23 GT3 cars.

From GTD PRO, Andrea Caldarelli was second fastest in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, followed by Road America winner Neil Verhagen in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

The two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.Rs, and the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3, also featured in the overall top 10.

Frederik Schandorff was second in GTD aboard the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO; then the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari and No. 13 AWA Corvette in third and fourth.

All 90 minutes proceeded with no major incidents, and only a brief red flag for debris on circuit. The best times of all 23 cars were covered by a spread of just under two seconds.

Practice 2 starts tomorrow at 10:35am ET, with qualifying starting later that afternoon at 4:55pm ET.