Courtney Tops GTS Opening Practice at VIR

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Jeff Courtney has topped the time charts in opening practice for the Pirelli World Challenge GTS division at Virginia International Raceway, ahead of this weekend’s third and fourth round of the season.

Courtney took his No. 99 Maserati GT4 to a best lap of 1:56.892, edging out the No. 3 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR of Rodrigo Baptista by 0.033 seconds.

The No. 2 Racer’s Edge Motorsports SIN R1 GT4 of Jason Bell, a GTS-Am competitor, was third quickest overall, followed by Anthony Mantella’s KTM X-Bow GT4, which made it four different manufacturers in the top-four.

Mantella’s teammate Martin Barkey completed the top-five, with Ian James sixth in the No. 50 Panoz Avezzano GT.

Mazda Road to Indy star Nico Jamin, in his PWC debut, was seventh in the No. 13 ANSA Motorsports KTM.

A total of 17 cars turned laps in the 40-minute session, with both the No. 89 Maserati of Fred Roberts and Andrew Aquilante’s Ford Mustang Boss 302R no-shows this weekend.

Practice 2 gets underway at 1:40 p.m. ET.

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