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Toni Vilander Fastest in VIR WeatherTech Practice No. 3

In Saturday morning’s third practice session for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at VIR, teams turned in the fastest laps of the weekend.  Risi Competizione’s Toni Vilander ended up fastest in the session with a lap of 100.855 seconds (116.722 mph).

Vilander was one-sixth of a second faster than Ford Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dirk Müller in second.  BMW Team RLL’s John Edwards was third fastest, followed by Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 Ford GT.  BMW Team RLL’s Bill Auberlen rounded out the top five.

Unlike Practice No. 2 on Friday, Saturday morning’s session was relatively calm.  However, Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner had an off-course excursion in turn 3 right near the end of the session.  Milner’s No. 4 Corvette C7.R was not damaged, but he had to deal with the consequences of going off course at a circuit with no paved runoff.  The front grille on the Corvette was covered in grass.  Given that Milner had nearly three miles to drive in order to get back to the pits, he executed a hard stop to get grass out of the grille before continuing.

In GT Daytona, Jeroen Mul continued his form from Friday.  Mul topped the charts for the third consecutive session, this time with a lap of 103.223 seconds (114.044 mph).

Mul’s lap was four-tenths of a second faster than Stevenson Motorsports’ Lawson Aschenbach.  The No. 57 Audi was not significantly hurt after a trip to the tire barrier Friday afternoon.  Turner Motorsport’s Jesse Krohn was third quickest, followed by Park Place Motorsports’ Jörg Bergmeister.  3GT Racing’s Sage Karam was fifth quickest.

Results of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Michelin GT Challenge at VIR Practice No. 3

Qualifying for Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge GT at VIR is scheduled for 12:20 p.m. Saturday afternoon.  The session will be streamed live at IMSA.com and FansChoice.tv.

About the author

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.

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