IMSA: Corvette, Lamborghini top scorching FP2

Scorching hot temperatures and a recent repave led to a frantic afternoon practice session for IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans and GT Daytona classes at VIRginia International Raceway.

Antonio Garcia drove the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R to the fastest lap in GTLM, turning a lap at 1m,42.623s in temperatures that soared over 130 degrees Fahrenheit, with ambient temperatures over 95 degrees. He came 0.091s with the track record set last year in qualifying by Nick Tandy (1m,42.532s). Garcia's lap The Ford GT entries of Joey Hand (-.0.077s) and Ryan Briscoe (-0.156s) were next in line.

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In GTD, the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 led for the second straight session, this time piloted by Bryan Sellers (1m, 44.944s). Ben Keating (-0.165s) and Corey Lewis (-0.235s) rounded out the top three as all 12 GTD entries were within 1.079 seconds on the charts.

The combination of new surface and hot conditions led to several off-track excursions, including the No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE of Toni Vilander, which had run up front earlier in the session with Giancarlo Fisichella behind the wheel. Fischicella had an off 23 minutes in as he was leading the session but continued, but Vilander was not as lucky, losing control partway through Turn 5 and careening into the barriers in a shunt that brought out the red flag. There was visible damage to the left rear and left front suspension.

In the closing few minutes Dan Knox also spun his No. 80 Dodge Viper GT3-R in Turn 5.

Andy Lally, whose Magnus Racing Audi was fourth quickest in class, thinks the stage is set for a free-for-all.

"I'm watching these Lambos throw down some pretty big laps here, so I think they've finally got the handling aspect of everything together here and at least two or three of them look like they are going to be strong contenders here," he said. "I think obviously the Viper always is. I think we're going to have a pretty awesome battle here. VIR is one of the best tracks for head-to-head racing and good dicing and I think we're going to see a whole lot of that on Sunday."

The No. 6 Audi of Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell missed the first half of the session after sustaining damage in the first practice.

UP NEXT: Free practice 3 at 8 a.m. ET.