Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s two cars finished 1-2 in first practice for the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America, led by the #93 Acura ARX-06 of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly.
Conditions were cloudy, dry throughout, and cooler than yesterday when teams unloaded their cars for the weekend. About 20 minutes into the 90-minute practice session, Yelloly took the top spot in GTP with a lap of 1:52.197, then improved to a 1:51.682 to secure ‘P1’ on the board.
In the final minutes, Yelloly went even quicker, finishing with a 1:51.008. Tom Blomqvist in the sister #60 MSR Acura slotted into second place with a 1:51.705.
A late improvement from Louis Delétraz saw the #40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R (1:52.131) shoot up to third place, ahead of the #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche, which was fourth fastest with Laurin Heinrich behind the wheel.
Filipe Albuquerque was fifth-quickest in the #10 WTR Cadillac, followed by Sheldon van der Linde in the Spider-Man-liveried #24 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8 in sixth, and GTP points leader Jack Aitken, who was seventh in the #31 Whelen Cadillac.
United Autosports USA’s two cars looked strong on the LMP2 side; to start the weekend, Paul di Resta went fastest in the #22 ORECA 07-Gibson with a lap of 1:54.166, and Mikkel Jensen in the #2 United ORECA (1:54.502) was third on the leaderboard.
In between them, Dane Cameron was second-fastest in the #99 AO Racing ORECA (1:54.460).
The #52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen car (Harry Tincknell) and the #43 Inter Europol Competition car (Tom Dillmann) completed the top five in LMP2.
It was a strong first session for Manthey’s GTD Pro #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R, leading the way with a 2:05.384 set by Thomas Preining in the last 15 minutes of the session.
Two Michelin Endurance Cup teams finished 1-2 in GTD Pro, as the #033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo set a 2:05.418, in the hands of Riccardo Agostini.
Alexander Sims was third-quickest in the #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R, then in fourth was Harry King in the #77 AO Racing Porsche. Ben Barker rounded out the top five in the #64 Ford Racing Mustang GT3.
But championship leaders Paul Miller Racing and the #1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO were down in tenth place in class, beneath several top teams in the GTD class.
Speaking of GTD, Car Blanche’s plain white #068 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo is back in the class, and set the quickest time in practice when Valentin Hasse-Clot turned in a 2:05.491. The Frenchman’s time was third-quickest of all GT cars.
The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO (Philip Ellis) went second, then Giacomo Altoè in the #81 DragonSpeed Corvette was third.
A pair of Ferraris, the #70 Inception Racing (Frederik Schandorff) and the #34 Conquest Racing (Albert Costa) 296 GT3 Evos, were fourth and fifth-fastest.
Only one red flag interrupted today’s session: Ross Gunn in the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie lost control at Canada Corner and hit the tire barrier at the end of the runoff. As that happened, the #023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari suffered a massive right front suspension failure when Robert Megennis traveled over the exit kerb at turn five, forcing him to stop at the entry of turn six.
Ultimately, the red flag was deemed by Race Control to be caused by the #23 Aston Martin, which will lose its fastest time in Qualifying tomorrow afternoon.
Before then, Practice 2 starts tomorrow morning at 9:50 AM CT.
Images © Jack Webster / Dailysportscar.com
