Ambassador Driver

TONI VILANDER

1Driver Info

Finland
COUNTRY
25 July 1980
BIRTHDATE

2Biography

Toni Vilander was born in Kankaanpaa on 25 July 1980 and made his first steps in motorsport at the age of five

TONI VILANDER

He began with karting, winning the Junior Finnish championship in 1995 and the German Oceanic series in 1999. In 2004, Vilander moved up to Formula 3 and in 2005, he took part in Formula 3000 and the Italian GT Championship, where he immediately took the title along with team-mate Alessandro Pier Guidi. Again with Pier Guidi and Giambattista Giannoccaro, in 2006, Vilander won the GT1 class of the Italian GT Championship, while in 2007 and 2008, he won the GT2 class of the FIA GT championship, at the wheel of a Ferrari F430 GT2. In 2008, he also took part in the American Le Mans Series alongside Jaime Melo, at the wheel of a Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia, while in 2012 he came to victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours, alongside Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni.

Since 2011, Vilander has continued to race an AF Corse 458 Italia GTE in the FIA WEC. In 2013 he partnered Kamui Kobayashi in the 458 Italia run by the AF Corse team in the WEC. But he went on to take his only win of the year at Bahrain alongside Bruni, helping the Italian to gain the Drivers' championship, along with the Constructors' crown for Ferrari and the teams’ title for AF Corse. The following year Toni was in a fixed pairing with Bruni, going on to take his first drivers’ GT title in the WEC and doubling up with glory for his team and constructor. Among the duo’s four wins of the year the most prestigious was no doubt the Le Mans 24 Hours, which they won with the help of Fisichella. In 2015, still with Bruni, he won at Silverstone and Fuji in the WEC ranking second among drivers. In 2016 he competed in the IMSA SSC championship on the 488 GTE of Risi Competizione team, and followed the same program also in 2017, completed with five podiums. He participated in some Blancpain Endurance Cup races with the AF Corse 488 GT3 but the main achievement of the season was the victory at the Bathurst 12 Hours.

In 2018 he took part in some IMSA races and in the Le Mans 24 Hours on the no. 52 AF Corse car alongside Antonio Giovinazzi and Pipo Derani but was above all involved in the Pirelli World Challenge championship in which he won two titles: the Overall one and the SprintX one together with Miguel Molina on the R.Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3. In 2019 Vilander will take part in IMSA with the Scuderia Corsa colours, again alongside Cooper MacNeil in the GTD class, while in Blancpain GT World Challenge America – that is replacing Pirelli World Challenge – he won the title racing for R. Ferri Motorsport together with Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra. In 2020, the Finn continued to compete in the IMSA series with Scuderia Corsa and also took to the track for the final race of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with SMP Racing.

In 2021, Vilander played a crucial role in Simon Mann’s victory in the Italian GT Championship while, at the Monza round, he returned to the World Endurance Championship. The appearance was a precursor to the full 2022 World Championship programme with AF Corse, sharing the 488 GTE cockpit with Christoph Ulrich and Simon Mann. Alongside Mann and Luis Perez Companc, the Finn will compete in the IMSA Endurance Cup series in the 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of the Piacenza-based team.

Toni Vilander had a double engagement in the 2022 season. After years of winning in the different American SRO series, the Finn tackled the tracks on the calendar of the IMSA Endurance Cup and FIA World Endurance Championship with AF Corse. He put in plenty of good performances, like the one that secured a podium finish at the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring.

In 2023 the Finn did not compete but, in the role of Ambassador Driver for the Prancing Horse, was often involved in activities to engage clients at some of the most famous motor racing facilities in the world, particularly around the Club Competizioni GT and the events organised on the occasion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which concluded with the triumph of the 499P number 51.