The pair of Ford GT’s may have sprinted to a one-two in the opening practice session at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but it was Risi Competizione that took the top spot in the afternoon’s practice in Monterey.

The No. 67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook set a time of 1:23.344, just besting their teammates Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand’s time in the No. 66 of 1:23.556.

Third place in the morning session went to Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette Racing machine.

Chevrolet and Ford are currently in a battle for the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships, with Chevy narrowly leading the manufacturers’ chase.

Corvette’s Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia are also leading the drivers’ title by 16 points over the No. 25 BMW duo and by 17 over the Fords. They set the eighth fastest time in the opening practice session.

In the second session, the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE set the fastest time, a 1:22.635, in the hands of Finnish driver Toni Vilander.

Vilander set the only time in the 1:22s for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM cars, allowing himself and teammate Giancarlo Fisichella to take the top spot ahead of BMW’s Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims in the No. 25 M6 GTLM.

Like with the previous session, Milner and Gavin took the third fastest time in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R, just ahead of the No. 24 sister BMW of John Edwards and Martin Tomczyk.

With only 1.256 seconds covering the entire field in the second session, and 1.197 in the first, the racing in the GTLM class is as close as ever in the series’ penultimate race weekend.

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