This paper proposes a model-free control-design methodology for IMC (Internal-Model-Controller) schemes. The idea is based on the virtual reference approach and it guarantees good performance in the regulation of processes characterized by either strong dead-time phenomena or high relative degrees in the discrete-time domain. The proposed technique is tested on a critical vehicle dynamics example, where it is also compared with the classical VRFT approach. Effectiveness of the methodology is illustrated also in case of small errors in the delay estimate. ©2010 IEEE.