Kaffer Tops Friday Practice at VIR

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Pierre Kaffer led the way in Friday’s pair of practice sessions for this weekend’s GT-only Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway.

The German ace took the Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia to the top of the time sheets in both 60-minute sessions, with his 1:43.138 lap time in the afternoon standing as quickest of the day.

Kaffer edged out the No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Pilet by 0.072 seconds, with the sister No. 912 entry of Earl Bamber third overall and in the GT Le Mans class.

The pair of BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GT3s completed the top-five, with the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche sixth quickest.

Corvette Racing had an uncharacteristic day, with its two Corvette C7.Rs at the tail end of time sheets, although still within one-second of the pace-setting Ferrari.

Park Place Motorsports was quickest in GT Daytona, thanks to a 1:48.128 lap time set by Spencer Pumpelly, which also came in the afternoon.

Pumpelly’s Porsche 911 GT America edged out the Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3 of Markus Palttala by 0.273 seconds, with the Magnus Racing Porsche completing the top-three in class.

Kuno Wittmer’s 1:48.779 lap, which paced the morning session, held as the fourth quickest of the day, with the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 fifth in class.

There were no major incidents in either sessions.

An off-course excursion for the No. 25 BMW in the final corner resulted in a brief red flag early in the opening session, while the No. 4 Corvette had a spin in the afternoon, which did not bring out a red.

Final practice is on tap for 9:55 a.m. ET Saturday, followed by qualifying, which gets underway at 4:40 p.m.

RESULTS: Practice 1
RESULTS: Practice 2

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John