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Charles Bradley

IMSA Watkins Glen: Acura tops first practice from Porsche and Cadillac

The 90-minute session began in dry conditions with an early Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 1-2, before Braun took the top spot in Meyer Shank Racing’s Daytona 24 Hours-winning ARX-06 with a lap of 1m33.563s.

Felipe Nasr was second quickest for the Porsche factory team in the #5 car, 1.2s off the pace but a tenth clear of Nick Tandy in the sister #6 entry.

Rain started to fall just before the one-third point of the session, sending the majority of the field into the pits. With more showers forecast across this weekend, there was plenty of scope for rain running among the bumper 57-car field.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Renger van der Zande just managed to squeeze in a time of 1m35.181s before the rain, ahead of the similar Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken.

The BMW M Hybrid V8s of Philipp Eng and Connor De Phillippi were next up but 2s off the pace.

The second Acura of Ricky Taylor (Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport) didn’t get a representative lap time in before the rain, and was classified 11th overall, with Mike Rockenfeller down in 15th in the final GTP entry, the JDC/Miller MotorSports Porsche.

Steven Thomas led the way in LMP2 for TDS Racing, half a second clear of Christian Rasmussen (Era Motorsport) and Ed Jones (High Class Racing).

IndyCar racer Devlin DeFrancesco suffered a quick spin in his Rick Ware Racing entry, but a far bigger crash befell John Falb, who shunted his #35 TDS car at Turn 6 that caused severe damage to its right-front corner and caused a red flag for recovery and barrier repairs.

Garett Grist (Jr III Racing) led the LMP3 field, just ahead of Gar Robinson’s Riley-run car.

BMW sets GTD pace, ahead of Porsche and Ferrari

In GTD, Bryan Sellers was the early pacesetter in Paul Miller Racing’s BMW M4, despite being given a drive-through penalty for repeated track limits infractions.

He lapped 0.066s ahead of Kay van Berlo in the #91 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911, who was on the right side of the same tenth as Pro class leader Davide Rigon (Risi Competitzione Ferrari 296) and Andy Lally (Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage).

The session ended when Luke Berkeley crashed the #42 Lamborghini in the closing seconds causing a second red flag.

Practice 2 starts at 8am ET tomorrow.

IMSA Watkins Glen - first practice results:

Cla Num Driver Class Chassis Time Gap
1 60 United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
United States Colin Braun
GTP Acura ARX-06 1'33.563  
2 7 Australia Matt Campbell
Brazil Felipe Nasr
GTP Porsche 963 1'34.792 1.229
3 6 United Kingdom Nick Tandy
France Mathieu Jaminet
GTP Porsche 963 1'34.863 1.300
4 01 France Sébastien Bourdais
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
GTP Cadillac V-Series.R 1'35.181 1.618
5 31 Brazil Pipo Derani
United Kingdom Alexander Sims
United Kingdom Jack Aitken
GTP Cadillac V-Series.R 1'35.254 1.691
6 24 Austria Philipp Eng
Brazil Augusto Farfus
GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 1'35.504 1.941
7 25 United States Connor de Phillippi
United Kingdom Nick Yelloly
GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 1'35.672 2.109
8 11 United States Steven Thomas
Denmark Mikkel Jensen
United States Scott Huffaker
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'36.066 2.503
9 18 United States Dwight Merriman
United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
Christian Rasmussen
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'36.612 3.049
10 20 Denmark Dennis Andersen
United Arab Emirates Ed Jones
Denmark Anders Fjordbach
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'36.727 3.164
11 10 United States Ricky Taylor
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
Switzerland Louis Deletraz
GTP Acura ARX-06 1'37.014 3.451
12 35 United States John Falb
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
United States Josh Pierson
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'37.220 3.657
13 52 United States Ben Keating
France Paul-Loup Chatin
Alex Quinn
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'37.598 4.035
14 8 Turkey Salih Yoluc
United States Kyffin Simpson
United Kingdom Will Stevens
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'38.458 4.895
15 5 Netherlands Tijmen van der Helm
Germany Mike Rockenfeller
GTP Porsche 963 1'38.722 5.159
16 04 United States George Kurtz
United Kingdom Ben Hanley
Nolan Siegel
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'38.816 5.253
17 51 United States Eric Lux
Canada Devlin DeFrancesco
Brazil Pietro Fittipaldi
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'39.674 6.111
18 88 Argentina Luis Perez Companc
France Lilou Wadoux
Denmark Nicklas Nielsen
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'41.123 7.560
19 30 United States Ari Balogh
Canada Garett Grist
United States Dakota Dickerson
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'41.139 7.576
20 74 United States Gar Robinson
Brazil Felipe Fraga
Australia Josh Burdon
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'41.249 7.686
21 85 United States Till Bechtolsheimer
Daniel Goldburg
Sweden Rasmus Lindh
LMP3 Duqueine D08 1'41.685 8.122
22 17 Canada Anthony Mantella
United Kingdom Wayne Boyd
Argentina Nicolás Varrone
LMP3 Duqueine D08 1'41.768 8.205
23 36 United States Jarett Andretti
Colombia Gabby Chaves
Glenn van
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'42.187 8.624
24 13 Canada Orey Fidani
United Kingdom Matthew Bell
Germany Lars Kern
LMP3 Duqueine D08 1'42.335 8.772
25 38 Christopher Allen
Connor Bloum
Alex Kirby
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'42.878 9.315
26 54 Jason Rabe
Andrew Pinkerton
United Kingdom Stevan McAleer
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'43.473 9.910
27 4 Seth Lucas
Tonis Kasemets
United States Trenton Estep
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'43.966 10.403
28 33 Portugal Joao Barbosa
Chile Nicolas Pino
United States Lance Willsey
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'44.468 10.905
29 1 United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
United States Corey Lewis
GTD BMW M4 GT3 1'46.457 12.894
30 91 Alan Metni
Netherlands Kay van Berlo
Australia Jaxon Evans
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'46.523 12.960
31 62 Brazil Daniel Serra
Italy Davide Rigon
GTD PRO Ferrari 296 GT3 1'46.552 12.989
32 44 United States John Potter
United States Andy Lally
United States Spencer Pumpelly
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1'46.564 13.001
33 95 United States Bill Auberlen
United States Chandler Hull
United States John Edwards
GTD PRO BMW M4 GT3 1'46.606 13.043
34 23 Onofrio Triarsi
Charles Scardina
Italy Alessio Rovera
GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 1'46.743 13.180
35 12 United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Aaron Telitz
Canada Parker Thompson
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1'46.858 13.295
36 47 Italy Roberto Lacorte
Italy Giorgio Sernagiotto
Italy Antonio Fuoco
GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 1'46.871 13.308
37 16 United States Ryan Hardwick
Canada Zacharie Robichon
Belgium Jan Heylen
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'47.006 13.443
38 14 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United Kingdom Ben Barnicoat
GTD PRO Lexus RC F GT3 1'47.103 13.540
39 77 United States Alan Brynjolfsson
United States Trent Hindman
United States Maxwell Root
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'47.137 13.574
40 3 Spain Antonio Garcia
United States Jordan Taylor
GTD PRO Corvette C8.R GTD 1'47.166 13.603
41 79 Spain Daniel Juncadella
France Jules Gounon
GTD PRO Mercedes AMG GT3 1'47.434 13.871
42 27 Canada Roman De Angelis
Denmark Marco Sorensen
United Kingdom Ian James
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1'47.524 13.961
43 023 United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Spain Alex Riberas
GTD PRO Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1'47.566 14.003
44 96 United States Patrick Gallagher
United States Robby Foley
United States Michael Dinan
GTD BMW M4 GT3 1'47.661 14.098
45 32 United States Mike Skeen
Canada Mikael Grenier
United States Kenton Koch
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 1'47.758 14.195
46 9 Austria Klaus Bachler
France Patrick Pilet
GTD PRO Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'47.761 14.198
47 70 United States Brendan Iribe
Switzerland Frederik Schandorff
United Kingdom Ollie Millroy
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 EVO 1'47.787 14.224
48 57 United States Russell Ward
Italy Raffaele Marciello
Netherlands Indy Dontje
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 1'47.813 14.250
49 63 Italy Andrea Caldarelli
South Africa Jordan Lee Pepper
GTD PRO Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 1'48.010 14.447
50 61 France Simon Mann
Spain Miguel Molina
Belgium Ulysse De Pauw
GTD PRO Ferrari 296 GT3 1'48.121 14.558
51 92 United States David Brule
United States Alec Udell
France Julien Andlauer
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'48.161 14.598
52 93 United States Ashton Harrison
Costa Rica Danny Formal
Canada Kyle Marcelli
GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'48.508 14.945
53 80 United States PJ Hyett
Seb Priaulx
United States Gunnar Jeannette
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 1'48.831 15.268
54 78 Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
Italy Loris Spinelli
Patrick Liddy
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 1'49.314 15.751
55 66 Sheena Monk
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
United States Marc Miller
GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'49.488 15.925
56 83 Switzerland Rahel Frey
Denmark Michelle Gatting
France Doriane Pin
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 1'54.136 20.573
57 42 United States Jaden Conwright
Luke Berkeley
United States Rob Ferriol
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 2'06.573 33.010
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