Yahoo Autos MSR Acura stays ahead in second IMSA Watkins Glen practice
Colin Braun topped the second practice for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen with his final lap in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06. The final 15 minutes, after the virtual checker for the Pro-Am classes, saw times tumble with only GTP and GTD PRO on track in a thrilling set of qualifying simulations, boding well for an exciting qualifying session this afternoon.
Braun had been sitting second behind Connor De Phillippi until the lap. De Phillippi had been at the top of the time sheet for most of the final 15 minutes, posting his quickest lap yet a 1m32.315s in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 with only seconds left in the session before Braun pipped it by 0.004s. BMW briefly held one-two at the top of the time sheet, Augusto Farfus ending up with a 1m32.574s time in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8.
Pipo Derani had been the first driver in the 1m32s range, setting his time early in the final push before taking the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R to the pits. His 1m32.785s lap would remain good enough for fourth in the session, with Nick Tandy making the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 that last car within a second at 1m33.089s.
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Lexus was on top of both GTD categories, Aaron Telitz taking the intra-squad honors in the GTD-class No. 12 Vasser Sullivan RC F GT3 with a 1m45.320s. Jack Hawksworth was only 0.022s behind to lead GTD PRO in the No. 14 RC F. Lamborghini was looking strong in the session, Loris Spinelli taking third overall among the GT cars in the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Huracán GT3 Evo2 at 1m45.358s, as well as Andrea Caldarelli in the No. 63 Iron Lynx entry posting the third-best time in GTD PRO. Caldarelli was 0.087s off of Ross Gunn’s second-best GTD PRO time of 1m45.362s in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Bryan Sellers was third-quick in GTD and eighth overall at 1m46.237 before the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 went back to the garage with damage, although what the car had contact with was unknown. Robby Foley (No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3) and Jan Heylen (No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R) rounded out the top five in GTD, while the other drivers in the top five in GTD PRO were Daniel Serra in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 and Bill Auberlen in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3).
Kyffin Simpson put the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA on top of LMP2 with a 1m36.458s lap, Mikkel Jensen close behind in the No. 11 TDS entry. Paul Loup Chatin was third quickest in LMP2 in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA with a 1m36.877s.
Wayne Boyd was the quickest of the LMP3 drivers with a 1m40.795s lap in the No. 17 AWA Duqueine, followed by Josh Burdon, 0.198s off in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier. Matthew Bell was third in the other AWA Duqueine with a 1m41.240s lap in the No. 13.
The session was interrupted by two red flags, the first for the No. 13 AWA car spinning and stalling in Turn 7. The second was for Mark Kvamme, a late substitution into the No. 20 High Class Racing LMP2 entry, putting the ORECA into the barrier at Turn 6. The two turns with a lot of paved runoff beyond the curbs, Turns 1 and 8, continued to see track limits violations, but no car spent enough time in no man’s land to warrant a drive-through penalty.
UP NEXT: Qualifying for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen beginning at 1:20pm, carried live on IMSA.tv
