Mitchell Quickest as Venturini Crashes in Practice 1 at VIR

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Sandy Mitchell set the pace in opening practice for Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS competitors at Virginia International Raceway, in a session marred by an accident from Giovanni Venturini.

Venturini’s No. 6 K-PAX Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo sustained front-end damage after sliding off the track in Turn 14, resulting in a lengthy 27-minute red flag period in the scheduled 45-minute session.

The session restarted with just seven minutes remaining on the clock, with no significant improvements.

Mitchell’s 1:44.537 lap time in the No. 9 TR3 Racing Lamborghini edged out Jan Heylen’s No. 20 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R by 0.077 seconds.

The 21-year-old Scot is making his series debut, subbing for fellow Lamborghini factory driver Giacomo Altoe this weekend.

The class championship-leading No. 3 K-PAX Lamborghini of Jordan Pepper and Andrea Caldarelli was quickest in Pro, thanks to a 1:44.896 lap time that put the black-colored car third overall on the time sheets.

It was some two-tenths faster than the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Robby Foley who was fourth quickest overall and second in class.

Venturini’s 1:45.285 lap time was good enough for fifth, prior to his accident.

A total of 15 cars turned laps in the session with the No. 70 inception racing McLaren 720S absent following a heavy accident by Brendon Iribe in testing on Thursday.

The team anticipates returning to the track in time for qualifying tomorrow morning.

The second and final practice session of the day is scheduled to get underway at 4 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