IMSA’s five GTP manufacturers were all represented in the top five during the first practice session for the Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America.
At the head of the pack was the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06, the winning car last round at Watkins Glen. Tom Blomqvist set the fastest time of the 90-minute session, with a 1m51.255s.
The big surprise was in second place, less than a tenth behind – the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie. Ross Gunn set a competitive lap of 1m51.328s at a circuit that is believed to suit the V12 Valkyrie’s strengths.
Then in third was the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R of Jack Aitken, the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng, and the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Nick Tandy, rounding out the top five.
Conditions were sunny and good, reflective of what’s expected for tomorrow and Sunday.
In LMP2, the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA of Mikkel Jensen went fastest with a 1m52.781s, ahead of the two United Autosports USA cars in second and third.
However, both United cars were involved in incidents that brought out red flags. The No. 22 of Dan Goldburg went off at Turn 8 and was stranded in the gravel; then, with less than seven minutes left, the No. 2 of Phil Fayer and the No. 021 Triarsi Compeizione Ferrari of Onofrio Triarsi collided at Canada Corner, sending Fayer off into the tire barrier.
Both cars will lose their fastest laps in qualifying tomorrow for causing a red flag in practice.
The No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 of Albert Costa set the quickest time in GTD PRO, at 2m05.844s, enough to lead his class. Behind him were the No. 4 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg, then the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Andrea Caldarelli, and the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich.
The fastest GT time of all belonged to the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and driver Russell Ward. Ward led the GTD class with his best lap of 2m04.991s, over 0.8s quicker than the next car in class.
That second-ranked car was the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, driven by Jack Hawksworth; Elliott Skeer went third fastest in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche, and Daniel Serra in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 rounded out the top four.
