Mantella Quickest in GTS Practice 2; Courtney Tops Friday at VIR

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Anthony Mantella led the way in Friday’s second practice session for GTS competitors ahead of qualifying for this weekend’s pair of Pirelli World Challenge Sprint races at Virginia International Raceway.

Mantella reeled off a quick lap of 1:57.192 in his No. 8 KTM X-Bow GT4, leading a 1-2 for the Mantella Autosport squad in the 50-minute session.

While the pair of KTMs swept the afternoon session, it was Jeff Courtney’s 1:56.892 lap time from the morning that stood as quickest of the day.

The Maserati GT4 ended Friday on top, ahead of the No. 3 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR of Rodrigo Baptista and Jason Bell’s Racer’s Edge Motorsports SIN R1 GT4 in third.

All three pace-setting times were set in the cooler morning conditions.

Bapista’s teammate Nate Stacy was third quickest in the No. 14 Flying Lizard Porsche, with Courtney and Bell completing the top-five overall in the second session.

Fourteen of the 17 GTS competitors turned laps in the afternoon, with the session ending a few minutes early due to debris from a shredded tire from the No. 04 GMG Racing McLaren 570S GT4 of George Kurtz.

Qualifying for the first of the 50-minute sprint races is set for Saturday at 10:15 a.m. ET.

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