Barnicoat Paces Opening Practice at VIR

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Ben Barnicoat ended up quickest in Friday’s opening IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice session for the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.

Barnicoat laid down a best lap of 1:45.201 in his No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 to edge late in the 90-minute session to edge out the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Patrick Gallagher by 0.033 seconds.

Gallagher, on a qualifying simulation run, was quickest of the GTD class cars.

The No. 12 Lexus of Aaron Telitz was third quickest overall and second in class, followed by Philip Ellis’ No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in fourth and the Frederick Schandorff-driven No. 57 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, which completed the top-five outright.

Patrick Pilet was sixth quickest and second in GTD Pro in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, ahead of GTD championship leaders Paul Miller Racing with the No. 1 BMW of Bryan Sellers and the sister Chandler Hull-driven No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW in eighth.

The No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Antonio Garcia and Misha Goikhberg’s No. 78 Forte Racing by US RaceTronics Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 completed the top-ten.

While there were no red flags during the session, the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes caught fire in the pits, sustaining damage, in the closing minutes. Dani Juncadella, who was in the car at the time, was OK.

Second practice is scheduled for a 10:20 a.m. EDT start on Saturday.

RESULTS: Practice 1

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