Yahoo Autos Ricky Taylor quickest in FP2 as Acuras go one-two at CTMP
Ricky Taylor and Tom Blomqvist jockeyed for fast time in the final 15 minutes of the second practice session for the IMSA WeatehrTech SportsCar Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Taylor eventually dipped into the 1m05s range in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 to edge last year’s polesitter by 0.268s with a 1m05.870s lap. Blomqvist posted a 1m06.138s in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 to make it an Acura one-two in the session. There was a 0.6s back to the best of the rest, Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.
Sebastien Bourdais spun the No. 01 Cadillac exiting Moss Corner on fresh tires, bringing out a red flag in the final 15 minutes and perhaps throwing a wrench into the pro teams’ qualifying simulation plans. Although the stoppage was short, it came during a crucial time for the teams to get heat into the tires and put in a fast lap. Bourdais recovered to post a 1m06.776s lap for fourth in the session, followed by Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 PPM 963.
Jack Hawksworth threw in a flyer in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 before the Vasser Sullivan team brought him into the pits to practice pit stops. His 1m14.959s lap to lead GTD PRO was quickest of all the GT cars. Behind GTD leader Loris Spinelli, Jules Gounon was second for WeatherTech Racing in the No. 79 Mercedes AMG at 1m15.309s, followed by Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C8.R, another 0.175s back.
Spinelli continued to show his pace and the continued improvement of the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Lamborghini Huracán Evo2, finishing the session with the fastest lap of the GTD cars, 1m15.269s. Frederik Schandorff in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S was second, 0.408s off Spinelli’s best, followed by Madison Snow was third with a 1m15.721s lap in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3.
Mikael Grenier (No. 32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG) and Kay van Berlo (No. 91 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3R) completed the top five in GTD. The No. 80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R missed the majority of the session while the team finished an engine change, only making a few laps at the end.
Home-track knowledge continued to show the way in LMP3 as Garett Grist again topped the charts with a 1m11.766s lap in the No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier. The order from yesterday’s first practice was repeated in the top three, with Felipe Fraga in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier second (1m11.960s) and Matt Bell in the No. 13 AWA Racing Duqueine third at 1m12.109s.
UP NEXT: Qualifying at 12:45pm ET, streamed live on IMSA.tv.
