BMW Team RLL, Alex Job Lead Practice 3 at VIR

Photo: John Dagys

Bill Auberlen (BMW Team RLL) and Leh Keen (Alex Job Racing) topped the time sheets in the third and final practice prior to qualifying for Sunday’s Oak Tree Grand Prix.

Auberlen took the No. 55 BMW Z4 GTE to a best time of 1:43.769 in the 90-minute session, leading a BMW 1-2, thanks to a late improvement by Dirk Mueller in the No. 56 entry.

The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia of Giancarlo Fisichella was third with a 1:44.325, followed by the pair of Corvette C7.Rs, which completed the top-five overall and in the GT Le Mans class.

Keen, meanwhile, led the way in GT Daytona, pedaling his No. 23 Alex Job Porsche 911 GT America to a 1:48.038.

It was just 0.034 seconds quicker than the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS of Spencer Pumpelly, with Andrew Davis putting the No. 27 Dempsey Racing Porsche third on the time sheets, prior to an accident by co-driver Patrick Dempsey.

Friday’s pace-setter, Jan Heylen, was fourth in the No. 58 Snow/Dempsey Porsche, while James Davison rounded out the top-five in the freshly rebuilt TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

The session saw three red flags, the first for the No. 555 AIM Autosport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Townsend Bell, who went off in Turn 3, while Dempsey’s incident brought out the second red.

The third red, that brought the session to a close, involved the No. 911 Porsche and No. 3 Corvette. Both cars sustained considerable damage with medical updates on both drivers to follow.

With heavy rear-engine damage sustained to the Dempsey machine, it’s unlikely to make qualifying, which is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET today.

Fisichella, meanwhile, also suffered an off that did not result in a red flag. However, the No.

RESULTS: Practice 3 (GTLM/GTD) 

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