Porsche Penske Motorsport’s #7 963 set the fastest time in the first practice session of the IMSA weekend at Watkins Glen this afternoon.
The car’s quickest time, a 1:34.175, was set by Dane Cameron. It was 0.172 faster than the #31 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R in the 90-minute session, which was held in the dry.
It was tight up top in GTP, with the top seven all setting times within a second, and completing more than 30 laps. Four manufacturers were also represented in the top four, with the #10 WTRAndretti Acura third and the #24 RLL BMW fourth.
Proton Competition’s #5 Porsche slotted in eighth and completed 40 laps, the most of anyone in GTP.
Iron Lynx’s Lamborghini also achieved a strong total in its first run on the circuit ahead of the car’s second IMSA race on Sunday. The #63 SC63 – driven by Matteo Cairoli and Andrea Caldarelli this weekend – ended up ninth in the 11-car GTP class, 1.1 seconds off the #7’s benchmark time after 38 laps of running.
In LMP2, it was TDS Racing that set the pace with its #11 ORECA. Mikkel Jensen was aboard when the car posted the time, which was half a tenth up on the #74 Riley ORECA which ended up second.
There were two red flags in the session, both caused by the Tower Motorsports ORECA. The Canadian-flagged prototype crashed twice, at Turns 1 and 7, with John Farano and Charlie Eastwood behind the wheel respectively.
AO Racing meanwhile, ran fastest in GTD Pro, with Lauren Heinrich completing a 1:45.242 aboard the ‘Rexy’ Porsche.
It was two-tenths faster than the #80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes which ended up quickest in GTD and second fastest in the combined GTD ranking after Scott Andrews’ best effort.
Track action for the IMSA WeatherTech runners continues tomorrow with Practice 2 at 09:10am local time in New York.
Image courtesy of IMSA
