The BMW boys were on the pace at Virginia International Raceway today as the GTLM class took their time in the spotlight as the lead class for this weekend’s round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship today.

BMW is the only manufacturer not to take a race win so far this year, but John Edwards is out to turn that around. The young American driver topped the timesheets this afternoon, stopping the clocks at 1 minute, 44.282 seconds. Edwards got quicker as the hour session continued, setting his fastest lap to edge further ahead on his final flying lap.

Risi Competizione’s Pierre Kaffer was second fastest ahead of Bill Auberlen in the sister BMW.

In the earlier session today, championship leader Antonio Garcia set the pace. Teammate Jan Magnussen went quicker in the afternoon session but with the time tumbling, the No.3 Corvette was only 7th fastest.

The three Porsche 911 RSRs were fourth through sixth with the two factory cars leading Bryan Sellers.

In the GT Daytona ranks, Jan Heylen’s Porsche set the pace – just pushing Dane Cameron’s BMW back to second by only .002 of a second.

Cars are back on track tomorrow morning for the next session at 8:15am.

AFTERNOON TIMES

(1) #56-GTLM John Edwards (BMW Z4 GTE) 1:44.282
(2) #62-GTLM Pierre Kaffer (Ferrari F458 Italia) 1:44.643 (0.361-)
(3) #55-GTLM Bill Auberlen (BMW Z4 GTE) 1:44.755 (0.473-)
(4) #912-GTLM Michael Christensen (Porsche 911 RSR) 1:45.133 (0.851-)
(5) #911-GTLM Richard Lietz (Porsche 911 RSR) 1:45.142 (0.860-)
(6) #17-GTLM Bryan Sellers (Porsche 911 RSR) 1:45.172 (0.890-)
(7) #3-GTLM Jan Magnussen (Chevrolet Corvette C7.R) 1:45.321 (1.039-)
(8) #4-GTLM Oliver Gavin (Chevrolet Corvette C7.R) 1:45.330 (1.048-)
(9) #93-GTLM Kuno Wittmer (Dodge Viper SRT) 1:45.332 (1.050-)
(10) #91-GTLM Dominik Farnbacher (Dodge Viper SRT) 1:45.613 (1.331-)
(11) #58-GTD Jan Heylen (Porsche 911 GT America) 1:48.791
(12) #94-GTD Dane Cameron (BMW Z4) 1:48.793 (0.002-)
(13) #555-GTD Townsend Bell (Ferrari F458 Italia) 1:48.813 (0.022-)
(14) #63-GTD Alessandro Balzan (Ferrari F458 Italia) 1:48.860 (0.069-)
(15) #007-GTD James Davison (Aston Martin V12 Vantage) 1:48.909 (0.118-)
(16) #22-GTD Leh Keen (Porsche 911 GT America) 1:48.935 (0.144-)
(17) #23-GTD Mario Farnbacher (Porsche 911 GT America) 1:48.950 (0.159-)
(18) #81-GTD Damien Faulkner (Porsche 911 GT America) 1:49.173 (0.382-)
(19) #44-GTD Andy Lally (Porsche 911 GT America) 1:49.506 (0.715-)
(20) #35-GTD Dion von Moltke (Audi R8 LMS) 1:49.576 (0.785-)
(21) #73-GTD Kevin Estre (Porsche 911 GT America) 1:49.632 (0.841-)
(22) #27-GTD Andrew Davis (Porsche 911 GT America) 1:49.775 (0.984-)
(23) #46-GTD Charles Espenlaub (Audi R8 LMS) 1:49.782 (0.991-)
(24) #33-GTD Tony Ave (Dodge Viper SRT) 1:49.875 (1.084-)
(25) #48-GTD Christopher Haase (Audi R8 LMS) 1:50.050 (1.259-)
(26) #18-GTD Mark Kvamme (Porsche 911 GT America) 1:59.960 (11.169-)