Heading into Qualifying for the Motul Course de Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, BMW M Team RLL driver Philipp Eng set the fastest time in Practice 2 on Saturday morning.
Both BMW M Hybrid V8s were quick early in the session. Connor de Phillippi in the #25 BMW went quickest 15 minutes in, with a time of 1:14.118. Shortly afterward, the #24 of Eng surpassed that mark, and set a 1:13.692, followed by a 1:13.349 two laps later.
That stood as the top time in GTP in a 90-minute session only interrupted by a brief red flag, when the #43 Andretti Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jarett Andretti stopped at turn five.
Sébastien Bourdais, off his win at Long Beach, was second-fastest in the #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R with a 1:13.573, a quarter of a second behind Eng.
De Phillippi improved to a 1:13.722 in the #25 BMW, putting him ahead of the two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s – the #7 of Dane Cameron, and the #6 of Mathieu Jaminet.
A repaired #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac of Pipo Derani was sixth-fastest, sporting a new hybrid system after Jack Aitken’s crash in Practice 1 on Friday. The best of the two Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acuras was the blue and black #10 of Ricky Taylor in seventh.
Jack Hawksworth set the pace in GTD Pro, with a 1:20.376 aboard the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3. That was just 0.088s quicker than Nick Catsburg in the #4 Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R, in second.
The Pfaff Motorsports #9 McLaren GT3 EVO, sporting its special red and white throwback livery in honour of McLaren F1 legend Ayrton Senna, was third-fastest in the hands of Marvin Kirchhöfer – ahead of Laurin Heinrich in the #77 AO Racing Porsche.
Danny Formal, doing double-duty this weekend for WTRAndretti across IMSA WeatherTech and Lamborghini Super Trofeo, was quickest in GTD aboard the #45 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 – setting a 1:20.637.
Anders Fjørdbach put in the second-best time in class in the #86 MDK Motorsports Porsche, followed by Loris Spinelli in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini in third.
Images © Jake Galstad / IMSA
