Vilander, Serra Top Friday Times in Watkins Glen

Photo: Gavin Baker/SRO

Toni Vilander and Daniel Serra led the way in Friday’s pair of practice sessions for this weekend’s Blancpain GT World Challenge America rounds at Watkins Glen International.

While the Finn’s 1:43.385 from the morning session stood as the quickest of the day, Serra’s 1:43.676 set in the 60-minute afternoon session kept the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 atop the time sheets.

Serra is filling in for Miguel Molina this weekend due to the Spaniard’s new full-season FIA World Endurance Championship commitments with AF Corse.

Both Vilander and Molina entered this event as the GT3 Pro points leaders.

The pair of K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3s were second and third quickest in the afternoon session, led by the No. 3 entry of Rodrigo Baptista and factory driver Maxime Soulet.

Andy Soucek and former series champion Alvaro Parente were third in the No. 9 Bentley. 

The No. 24 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R was fourth, followed by a late-session improvement by Dennis Olsen to put the No. 91 Wright Motorsports Porsche fifth quickest and best of the GT3 Pro-Am class competitors.

It demoted the No. 43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Dane Cameron to sixth overall and second in class.

GT3 Am was led by the No. 19 One11 Competition Ferrari, which bounced back from an accident in opening practice.

Qualifying gets underway at 10:45 a.m. ET on Saturday, with live streaming coverage on the series’ official website.

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