Toni Vilander

Toni Markus Vilander (born 25 July 1980) is a Finnish professional racing driver who currently drives for the Risi Competizione Ferrari team in various categories of sports car racing.

After a single-seater career which reached the level of the GP2 Series in 2005, Vilander switched to GT racing. He has had numerous successes with AF Corse, winning the and 24 Hours of Le Mans races in the LMGTE Pro class, as well as the FIA World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers in 2014 and also the GT2 class championship of the FIA GT Championship in 2007 and 2008.

Career

Born in Kankaanpää, Vilander started racing karts at the age of five, winning the Junior A class of the Finnish Karting Championship in 1995, and both the German and Oceanic championships in 1999. He then upgraded to open-wheel cars in 2001. By 2004, he was competing in Italian Formula 3 with the Coloni team, and upgraded to Italian Formula 3000 in 2005, as well as competing in the Italian GT series.

However, trouble was brewing in the Coloni GP2 team, as lead driver Gianmaria Bruni had a row and left mid-season. Vilander got the call-up from Coloni to be Bruni's temporary substitute and competed in the Italian and Belgian rounds of the championship. He proved a competent midfield runner, finishing 15th, eighth, 14th and 13th in the four races in which he took part. For the season-closing double-header in Bahrain, Coloni chose to replace Vilander with Ferdinando Monfardini, and Toni went back to his normal drives. Vilander finished 25th overall in the series' inaugural year with no points, but was more successful in Italian Formula 3000, where he finished fourth with 23 points, and more successful still in Italian GT2, where he was crowned champion with his co-driver Alessandro Pier Guidi, scoring a total of 182 points.

In January 2006, Vilander, Pier Guidi and Giambattista Giannoccaro won the GT2 class of the Mil Milhas Brasil race and were placed fourth overall, driving a Ferrari 360. Using that same car, he went on to win that year's GT2 class of the Italian GT Championship. He also won the GT1 class of the 2006 Italian GT Championship with Giannoccaro, driving a Maserati MC12. For one race, he made a guest appearance in the FIA GT Championship.

Continuing his sportscar success, Vilander won the GT2 class of the 2007 FIA GT Championship with teammate Dirk Müller. In 2008 he teamed up with Gianmaria Bruni and retained his title. He also competed in the American Le Mans Series alongside Jaime Melo in a Ferrari 458 Italia GTC for Risi Competizione.

Vilander shared this AF Corse-run Ferrari 458 Italia to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Vilander has competed in six Le Mans 24 Hours races from 2008 onwards, driving Ferraris for the AF Corse team. In 2008, he shared a Ferrari 430 with Thomas Biagi and Christian Montanari in the GT2 class but failed to finish. Two years later, he returned to La Sarthe to drive a Ferrari 458 Italia with Jean Alesi and Giancarlo Fisichella, finishing 16th overall and fourth in the GT2 class. In 2011, he again drove a 458 with Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni in the new GTE-Pro category, improving to 13th overall and second in class having held the class lead for much of the 24 hours. For the 2012 race, the trio returned and won the class convincingly (finishing 17th overall) despite the car having to be completely rebuilt for the race following Fisichella's crash in practice, missing qualifying and starting from the back of the grid as a result. In , he again drove a 458 for AF Corse, this time with Kamui Kobayashi and Olivier Beretta, finishing fifth in the GTE-Pro class. He was reunited with Bruni and Fisichella once more for the race, and the trio took another class victory.

Vilander made his début in the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2012, again driving a Ferrari 458 Italia for AF Corse alongside Filip Salaquarda. The duo took two victories—one at the Slovakiaring and the other at the Nürburgring—and Vilander finished ninth in the drivers' standings after missing the final round of the season. He did not return to the series in 2013 due to his increased World Endurance Championship commitments for the team.

Vilander has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship since the series was launched in 2012, having made sporadic appearances in the interim Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series which preceded it. In 2012 he shared a Ferrari 458 Italia with Bruni and Fisichella in AF Corse's lead entry for three of the championship's eight rounds, winning at Le Mans and in Bahrain, assisting the team to win the LMGTE Pro Trophy. For the 2013 season, he was switched to the team's second entry full-time, with Kamui Kobayashi and Olivier Beretta. For the final race in Bahrain, he was swapped with Fisichella in the lead entry due to the latter's disappointing performances, and duly won the class with Bruni to narrowly retain AF Corse's class championship over the works Aston Martin Racing team. With Kobayashi returning to Formula One, Vilander remains with the lead AF Corse team in 2014 with Bruni, and has won the races at Spa-Francorchamps and Le Mans (the latter also with Fisichella) to lead the GTE manufacturers' championship and the newly introduced GTE drivers' championship after three races.

In 2016, Vilander teamed up with Giancarlo Fisichella in WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

On 5 February 2017, Vilander won the 2017 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, Australia for Australian team Maranello Motorsport driving with multiple Bathurst 1000 winners Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup in a Ferrari 488 GT3 to become the second Finnish driver to win the Bathurst 12 Hour after Mika Salo had won the event in 2014. Despite it being his first drive at Bathurst, Vilander impressed when claimed the Allan Simonsen Trophy for pole position and in a brilliant drive also set the fastest lap of the race.

Racing record Racing career summary

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Italia results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points 2002 RP Motorsport MAG SIL JAR AND OSC SPA IMO DON EST 66th 0 2003 RP Motorsport BRN1 BRN2 ASS1 ASS2 OSC1 OSC2 DON1 DON2 14th 20

Complete Italian Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 2003 RP Motorsport Dallara F302 RenaultMISBINMAGIMOPERMUGVARMNZVLL 12th 16 2004 Coloni Motorsport Lola-Dome F106 Spiess-OpelADRMAG PER MUG MUG IMO IMO VAR MNZ MNZ VLL VLL MIS MIS 1st 146

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2004 Coloni Motorsport Lola F106/03/009 Mugen HOC1 HOC2 EST1 EST2 ADR1 ADR1 PAU1 PAU2 NOR1 NOR1 MAG1 MAG2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 BRN1 BRN2 HOC1 HOC2 26th 0

Complete Italian Formula 3000 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2005 Team Astromega ADR VLL BRN IMO MUG 4th 23 GP Racing MAG MNZ MIS

Complete GP2 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 DC Points 2005 Coloni Motorsport IMOFEA IMOSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA NÜRFEA NÜRSPR MAGFEA MAGSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR MNZFEA MNZSPR SPAFEA SPASPR BHRFEA BHRSPR 25th 0

Complete FIA GT Championship results

Complete 24 Hours of Spa results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2007 AF Corse Motorola Dirk Müller Mika Salo Ferrari F430 GT2 GT2 58 DNF DNF 2008 AF Corse Gianmaria Bruni Jaime Melo Mika Salo Ferrari F430 GT2 GT2 550 7th 3rd 2009 AF Corse Gianmaria Bruni Luís Pérez Companc Jaime Melo Ferrari F430 GT2 GT2 540 4th 1st 2010 AF Corse ALD Team Vitaphone Gianmaria Bruni Bert Longin Eric van de Poele Ferrari F430 GTE GT2 295 DNF DNF 2012 AF Corse Dan Brown Giuseppe Cirò Gaetano Ardagna Pérez Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Pro-Am 449 DNF DNF 2013 AF Corse Duncan Cameron Matt Griffin Alex Mortimer Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Pro-Am 557 5th 1st 2015 AF Corse Adrien de Leener Raffaele Giammaria Cédric Sbirrazzuoli Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Pro-Am 521 11th 6th 2017 Spirit of Race Alex Demerdjian Nicolas Minassian Davide Rizzo Ferrari 488 GT3 Pro-Am 538 17th 3rd 2019 AF Corse Andrea Bertolini Niek Hommerson Louis Machiels Ferrari 488 GT3 Pro-Am 186 DNF DNF

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2008 AF Corse Thomas Biagi Christian Montanari Ferrari F430 GT2 GT2 111 DNF DNF 2010 AF Corse Giancarlo Fisichella Jean Alesi Ferrari F430 GT2 GT2 323 16th 4th 2011 AF Corse Giancarlo Fisichella Gianmaria Bruni Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTEPro 314 13th 2nd 2012 AF Corse Giancarlo Fisichella Gianmaria Bruni Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTEPro 336 17th 1st 2013 AF Corse Kamui Kobayashi Olivier Beretta Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTEPro 312 20th 5th 2014 AF Corse Gianmaria Bruni Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTEPro 339 13th 1st 2015 AF Corse Gianmaria Bruni Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTEPro 330 25th 3rd 2016 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella Matteo Malucelli Ferrari 488 GTE GTEPro 340 20th 2nd 2017 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella Pierre Kaffer Ferrari 488 GTE GTEPro 72 DNF DNF 2018 AF Corse Pipo Derani Antonio Giovinazzi Ferrari 488 GTE Evo GTEPro 341 20th 5th 2019 WeatherTech Racing Cooper MacNeil Robert Smith Ferrari 488 GTE GTEAm 333 33rd 3rd 2020 WeatherTech Racing Cooper MacNeil Jeff Segal Ferrari 488 GTE Evo GTEPro 185 DNF DNF 2022 AF Corse Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich Ferrari 488 GTE Evo GTEAm 339 41st 8th

Complete GT1 World Championship results Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points 2012 AF Corse Ferrari NOGQR5 NOGCR6 ZOLQR13 ZOLCR3 NAVQR10 NAVQR9 SVKQR1 SVKCR4 ALGQR12 ALGCRRet SVKQR7 SVKCR6 MOSQR9 MOSCRRet NURQR8 NURCR1 DONQR DONCR 9th 80

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

‡ As Vilander was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results Year No. Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2017 88 Maranello Motorsport Jamie Whincup Craig Lowndes Ferrari 488 GT3 AP 290 1st 1st