Free Practice 1, Action Express On Top
Action Express Racing dominated Free Practice 1 at Sebring with the team’s Corvette DPs finishing the session 1,2 in the order.
Dane Cameron took the Whelen sponsored #31 car to the top of the timesheets with a 1:52.477, eight tenths clear of the sister #5 car with Scott Pruett (named in both cars as a safety net should Joao Barbosa find himself not fully recovered from his recent fractured wrist). Pruett lapped in 1:53.226 with a big gap back to the third fastest car, Ozz Negri in the #60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier Honda (1:54.972).
BMW topped the GTLM time as Dirk Werner took the #25 Team RLL BMW M6 round in 1:59.327, a quarter second up on both of the factory Porsches, Fred Makowiecki in the #912 lapping in 1:59.633, just edging the #911 911 RSR of Kevin Estre back into third spot (1:59.642).
Colin Braun took the #54 CORE autosport ORECA round in 1:55.469 with the #8 Starworks car of David Heinemeier Hansson almost a full second back (1:56.329).
GT Daytona saw a Viper at the top of the times as Jeroen Bleekemolen squeezed a 2:02.901 out of the #33 Riley Motorsports Dodge just a hundredth clear of the #44 Magnus Racing Audi of Andy Lally (2:02.911).
Free Practice 2, Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot
It was another Action Express 1,2 in the afternoon Practice session, soaring temperatures seeing little change in the overall form book!
This time though it was the #5 Corvette DP that led the session Christian Fittipaldi producing a lap in 1:53.850 almost a half-second clear of Scott Pruett, this time in the # 31 (1:54.283)
It was a DP 1,2,3 at the flag with the most unexpected presence in the top three of the debuting #24 Alegra Motorsports Riley-BMW DP, Daniel Morand less than a tenth away from Pruett’s best with a 1:54.334 before the same car brought out a red flag later in the session after Cameron Lawrence had taken over on driving duties.
Olivier Pla ended the session fourth for Michael Shank Racing, a tenth off the Riley’s best.
Porsche topped the GTLM times with Nick Tandy in the #911 Porsche North America car spoiling the session headlines for Corvette, his 2:00.041 less than three hundredths of a second clear of Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette Racing C7.R (2:00.070). The #68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488GTE of Alessandro Pier Guidi claimed third fastest time in the session with a 2:00.282.
CORE autosport topped FP2 too, Mark Wilkins the man at the wheel this time though (1:56.655). Starworks debutant Michael Lyons was second fastest in PC (1:57.087) aboard the #88 Starworks Oreca.
In GTD it was the #98 Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage of Mathias Lauda on top (2:03.692 )just ahead of the Alex Riberas pedalled #23 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 (2:03.706) with Bleekemolen again very much in the mix in the #33 Viper (2:03.743).
Free Practice 3, Trouble for MSR
A heavy shunt for John Pew in the #60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier Honda brought proceedings to an early conclusion in the night practice session that completed a busy, and rather sweaty, first day of track action ahead of the 12 Hours of Sebring.
The session saw a third consecutive timesheet with an Action Express DP on top, this time the #5 car with Filipe Albuquerque banging in a 1:52.832.
Second fastest wasn’t the second Action Express car though, instead it was the resurgent #55 Mazda of Jonathan Bomarito (1:53.882), the shift to petrol fuelled engine is beginning to pay off!
Jordan Taylor was third fastest in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP (1:54.088) with Ryan Hunter-Reay fourth in the #90 Visit Florida Corvette DP (1:54.224).
Core Autosport made it a clean sweep of the Thursday sessions in PC with Colin Braun’s 1:55.077 putting the #54 car amongst the Prototype class runners.
GTLM went the way of BMW again, Lucas Luhr posting a 1:59.270 in the BMW Team RLL #100 BMW M6 GTLM ahead of the sister #25 car of Bruno Spengler (1:59.894).
Lovers of the blue oval will be heartened by the pair of Ford GTs next up, the #67 of Ryan Briscoe (2:00.201) edging the #66 of Sebastien Bourdais (2:00.217).
Jeroen Bleekemolen completed an encouraging day for the #33 Viper squad with another top time in GTD of 2:03.417.
Al Carter banged the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 into second fastest with a 2:03.491 with the #45 Flying Lizard/Krohn Audi R8 of Pierre Kaffer (2:03.610).
Back to the MSR shunt – John Pew spoke to Shea Adam from IMSA Radio on returning to the paddock, the Ligier had impacted the the inside wall on the approach to the braking zone in Turn 5 after the car (with thanks to Marshall Pruett for the info), according to a veteran photographer, turned hard right, rotated, then stopped hard against the barrier. Pew walked away under his own steam.
No mechanical failure it seems, but Pew suggesting that he had done nothing different at the same point on previous laps.
The team are hard at work on repairs but reportedly with no damage to the Ligier’s tub.
GG
