The 1h45m session ran in dry conditions throughout – following yesterday’s briefly dry then mainly wet session – with the 57-car field keen to maximize their running.
BMW held an early 1-2 in the premier GTP class, with Philipp Eng heading Nick Yelloly by half a second. Matt Campbell then took over at the top in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 with 1m35.290s before Yelloly beat that by two tenths with 1m35.091s.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Renger van der Zande grabbed P1 after 45 minutes, lapping his Cadillac V-Series.R in 1m34.584s, before Ricky Taylor took over with 1m34.144s in his Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06.
Time tumbled in the closing minutes, as teams conducted qualifying simulations. Pipo Derani grabbed P1 with 1m32.785s in the Action Express Cadillac, which lost time early on with an electrical issue, before Connor De Phillippi took it away with 1m32.460s in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, which he topped with 1m32.315s on his final tour.
But Braun beat him on his last lap by 0.004s in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura to top the session, with Augusto Farfus in the sister #24 BMW in third.
Derani slipped to fourth, ahead of Nick Tandy (#6 Porsche), Sebastien Bourdais (Ganassi Caddy) and Taylor. The Porsches of Mike Rockenfeller (JDC Miller) and Felipe Nasr (#7 Penske) rounded out the nine-car GTP field.
Will Stevens topped LMP2 for Tower Motorsports, ahead of Mikkel Jensen (TDS Racing) and Paul-Loup Chatin (PR1 Mathiasen). Wayne Boyd topped LMP2 in the AWA Duqueine, ahead of a phalanx of Ligiers.
There was a brief red flag after Orey Fidani spun and stalled his LMP3 Duqueine at Turn 7, and a second was required when Mark Kvamme crashed his High Class Racing LMP2 at Turn 6, which also involved Bryan Sellers’ Paul Miller Racing BMW.
Lexus 1-2 in GTD, ahead of Lamborghini and Aston Martin
In GTD, Jack Hawksworth set the early pace in the all-Pro Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F with 1m46.619s, before Andrea Caldarelli beat that with 1m45.429s in his Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan. Patrick Liddy went second-fastest in Forte Racing’s example.
Aaron Telitz took Lexus back to the top with 1m45.320s, beating the sister car of Hawksworth by 0.024s.
Loris Spinelli was third-fastest in the Forte Lambo, ahead of Alex Riberas’s Heart of Racing Aston Martin.
Qualifying starts at 1:20pm ET today.
