Toni Vilander

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Toni Markus Vilander (born 25 July 1980 in Kankaanpää) is a Finnish race car driver who competed in the GP2 Series in 2005. He was also class champion of the 2007 FIA GT Championship season.

[edit] Career

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, 8th, 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. 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 team-mate Dirk Müller.