Fast laps in the third session on Saturday Morning from Tom Blomqvist and in the afternoon session from Colin Braun completed a clean sweep in the first four track sessions for the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX 06
Saturday Morning (90 Minutes)
Tom Blomqvist led a one-two for Acura with the #60 Meyer Shank Acura scoring a 1:35.365, edging out the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing car, a late starter in the session after a fuel pump electronics issue, Louis Deletraz though finding a lap of 1:35.493 just good enough to edge the first of the two Porsches back to third by a scant five-thousandths of a second, Dane Cameron in the #6 Porsche 963 ahead of the sister #7 in the hands of Felipe Nasr.
The trio of Cadillacs was next up with the pair of BMWS rounding out the GTP field.
Nicolas Lapierre put the #52 PR1/Mathiasen car on top in LMP2, his 1:38.877 a couple of tenths up on Mikkel Jensen in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca. Fred Poordad had a clash with what was believed to be the #60 Acura at T1 that eventually saw the left rear Michelin give up the ghost out of the Bus Stop, the car pulling off track but debris bringing out a brief red flag.
In LMP3 Dakota Dickerson posted a 1:42.653 in the #36 Ligier of Andretti Autosport.
Matt Bell was second fastest in the #13 AWA Duqueine in a session that saw drama for the sister #17 AWA D08 in the hands of Lars Kern, the Porsche test and development driver having a harrowing moment as he negotiated Turn 1 with a bracket securing the ECU detaching and leaving him with no steering, the car continuing in a straight line across the grass and ending up with a half spin in the motorcycle cut-out for the first Horseshoe.
Frederik Schandorff led the combined GTD order with. 1:46.842 in the #70 Inception Racing McLaren.
A second GTD runner, the #32 Team Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was half a second back with the Aston Martin GTD Pro pair third and fourth fastest, Owen Trinkler with a 1:47.359 ahead of Ross Gunn in the Heart of Racing Vantage.
Saturday Afternoon (60 Minutes)
Colin Braun continued the sequence of Meyer Shank Racing session-leading efforts with the fastest lap of the test so far, 1:35.038 in the #60 Acura ARX-06.
Second fastest once again was the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura – Brendon Hartley just over a tenth back.
Once again the order behind was an orderly trail in team order, but this time the BMW Team RLL M Hybrid V8s scored third and fourth, Phillip Eng in the #24 third fastest, ahead of Nick Yelloly in the #25.
LMP2 was headed by the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca in the hands of Ben Hanley with a 1:38.633.
Rinus Veekay completed the session second fastest in the #11 TDS Racing car.
Chilean racer Nico Pino topped LMP3 in the #33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier with a 1:42.961 just 2 thousandths of a second clear of Gabby Chaves in the #36 Andretti Ligier.
For the fourth consecutive session a GTD class runner finished ahead of the GTD Pro cars, Nicki Thiim fastest in the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin, with the GTD Pro class #64 Team TGM/TF Sport Aston of Hugh Plumb just four hundredths back.
The final WeatherTech session of the day is night practice, a 2 hour session starting at 18:30 local, but with heavy rain falling as the session draws closer!
