Yahoo Autos Braun tops CTMP first practice for MSR Acura
Colin Braun pulled out a late flyer to take the top spot in the first practice session for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Braun posted a time of 1m07.341s in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 to take over the top spot that had been held by Pipo Derani in the No 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.
Braun’s time was 0.78s quicker than Derani’s best of 1m08.121s. The rest of the GTP field was in the 1m08s range as Acura and Cadillac alternated in the first four positions, Filipe Albuquerque third in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ahead of Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac. Philipp Eng completed the top five in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8.
Garett Grist posted the top time in LMP3 at his home track, a 1m12.270s lap in the No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier, followed by Felipe Fraga in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, 0.212s off Grist’s best. Matt Bell was third for AWA in the No. 13 Duqueine.
Frankie Montecalvo, who nabbed the GTD pole at CTMP last year, was quickest in the class in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 at 1m16.558s, 0.112s quicker than Frederik Schandorff in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S. Those two headed the GT field overall, with Antonio Garcia third among the GTs and first in GTD PRO in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C8.R. Ben Barnicoat was right behind Garcia, only 0.02s off the Corvette’s time in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus.
Alex Riberas was third in GTD PRO in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Robby Foley (No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3) and Loris Spinelli (No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo22) split Barnicoat and RIberas to round out the top four in GTD.
The session was interrupted by two red flags. The first was for the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG stopped on course in Turn 8. The second was for George Staikos in the No. 4 Ave Motorsports LMP3 stopped on course at Turn 5.
UP NEXT: Practice 2, a 1h45m split session beginning at 8am ET.
