Whelen Cadillac led the opening Practice session for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen with the two Acura Meyer Shank Racing cars in second and third.
Jack Aitken set the fastest time in the red #31 Cadillac V-Series.R; coming off a disappointing final result at the Le Mans 24 Hours, Aitken set a 1:34.584 to go within four-tenths of the GTP lap record.
Nick Yelloly in the #93 Acura ARX-06 set a 1:34.966 to go second-fastest, only a few milliseconds quicker than Tom Blomqvist in the blue #60 Acura.
GTP Championship leader Nick Tandy set the fourth-best time in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, ahead of Louis Deletraz in the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.
The fastest of the two BMW M Hybrid V8s was the #25 Team RLL car of Marco Wittmann, who was within a second of the top. Meanwhile, the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie went tenth-fastest, ahead of the returning #63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63 in 11th.
As LMP2 cars returned to IMSA action, early championship co-leader Felipe Fraga set the quickest time in the #74 ORECA 07-Gibson, at 1:35.798.
But with 30 minutes left, the orange and blue #74 Riley machine stopped along the back stretch, bringing out a very brief red flag, the first of two stoppages in the 90-minute practice session.
The second was brought out after John Farano spun and stalled coming out of turn nine in the #8 Tower Motorsports ORECA. Otherwise, the session was littered with procedural penalties – several drive-throughs were handed out for track limits violations, pit lane infringements, and powertrain parameter compliance.
The #22 United Autosports USA ORECA went second-fastest in LMP2, ahead of the #99 AO Racing ‘Spike’ car with its new gold-plated tail, and the #8 Tower Motorsports car.
Andrea Caldarelli and Pfaff Motorsports recorded the fastest time in GTD PRO, as the plaid #9 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 set a 1:45.912 to top the session.
Ben Barnicoat spent no time getting back up to speed in his first competitive session since returning from a mountain biking accident in March: He was second-fastest in GTD PRO, back aboard the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.
Then it was Laurin Heinrich in third driving the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, and his former teammate Sebastian Priaulx in the #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3, in fourth.
However, the best time across both GT classes was set in GTD, by Scott Andrews in the #80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Australian turned in a 1:45.867 to go quicker than Caldarelli’s best GTD PRO time.
The #36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R was second-quickest in GTD, then, it was the returning #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, third-quickest in its new ‘Virtual Energy’ colors. In fourth was the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus.
One car that didn’t set a representative time was the #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports car. It only posted three installation laps, then underwent a gearbox change as a precaution – after the team diagnosed a faulty sensor, and saw unpleasant fluid temperature and pressure readings.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship cars return to the track tomorrow – Practice 2 starts at 9:00 AM ET (local time), followed by Qualifying, which starts at 2:20 PM ET.
Images © Jack Webster / Dailysportscar.com
