In the final minutes of second practice for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, JDC-Miller MotorSports’ hired gun Laurin Heinrich set a 1:33.398 to put the 2025-spec #5 Porsche 963 on top of the timing sheets.
This came about an hour after his co-driver Tijmen van der Helm inadvertently brought out the first red flag of the 105-minute session: Van der Helm clipped the grass at the exit of turn seven, and carbon fibre debris spilled out onto the racing line. After track cleanup and repairs to the #5 Porsche, van der Helm, Heinrich, and Kaylen Frederick resumed with minimal issues, headlined by Heinrich’s top time.
The #31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R finished with the second-best time, a 1:33.693 set by Jack Aitken with about 20 minutes left.
The two Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06es featured in the top five: Tom Blomqvist set a 1:33.838 in the leading #60 MSR Acura, trailed by Renger van der Zande in the #93 Acura with a 1:33.984.
In between them was the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac with a 1:33.877 set by Louis Delétraz.
Dries Vanthoor in the #24 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8 was sixth-fastest, and the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie improved to ninth near the end via Ross Gunn.
In LMP2, AO Racing’s #99 ORECA 07-Gibson leapt to the top of the board in the first 15 minutes, which were reserved for Bronze drivers like PJ Hyett, whose 1:35.896 was actually the quickest lap of the entire session.
But Hyett would spin at turn seven and got stuck on the inside kerb, bringing out a red flag to bring the session to a slightly premature end. Hyett will lose his fastest lap in qualifying this afternoon as a result.
Another Bronze driver, Jeremy Clarke in the #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA, was second-fastest in his class, ahead of the top-ranked professional driver, Paul di Resta in the #22 United Autosports USA ORECA in third.
The #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR (Toby Sowery) and #11 TDS Racing (Mathias Beche) cars finished fourth and fifth in class.
Endurance specialists Risi Competizione finished at the top in GTD Pro. The #62 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo went to the top of the board early after Daniel Serra set his best time of 1:45.348, which wouldn’t be beaten, though it would be approached closely near the end.
The #14 Vasser Sullivan/Dreyer & Reinbold Lexus RC F GT3 was second-fastest thanks to a late flying lap from Jack Hawksworth, followed by Antonio García in the #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R in third.
Championship leader Nicky Catsburg was fourth in the #4 Corvette, ahead of Neil Verhagen in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
And in GTD, the surprise of the weekend continues to be the #068 Car Blanche Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, which was the fastest car in class yet again. This time out, newcomer Marius Fossard led the way with his time of 1:45.496, picking up where co-driver Valentin Hasse-Clot left off yesterday.
The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Russell Ward went second-fastest, followed by Fran Rueda, another debutant, in third aboard the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari. The #912 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R (Riccardo Pera) and #70 Inception Racing Ferrari (Brendon Iribe) rounded out the top five.
Images © Jack Webster / dailysportscar.com
