In the second of the ROAR test wrap-ups for RACER.com, Marshall Pruett, Sebastien Bourdais and The DSC Ed chat through the happenings of Saturday’s testing.
Tandy Handy In the Rain
The predicted rain came with a vengeance in time for the two-hour night practice session on Saturday evening.
That lead to a relatively brief Red Flag as track conditions worsened. With the rain easing, cars returned to the track and by the end of the session fewer than half the field, 30 cars, had ventured out of pit lane with just 27 setting a flying lap time.
With streaming wet conditions, times were way off the earlier sessions. The fastest of the session was the #6 Porsche 963 in the hands of Nick Tandy, a 1:46.206 the first effort to top a session from anything other than an Acura!
Just four of the GTPs ventured out, and only the #6 Porsche and #31 Action Express Cadillac set representative lap times.
By contrast, 8 of the ten car LMP2 field took part in the session with Ryan Dalziel setting the fastest class time in the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca, a 1:50.756.
Antonio Serravalle, who replied to the originally named James French (see note below) in the FastMD Racing Duqueine prior to the test, led the way in LMP3.
In GTD Pro, Jules Gounon put in a lap in 1:57.084 to put the so-far somewhat troubled #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at the top of the GT times.
Marvin Kirchhöfer was also in the 1:57s in the GTD class leading #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3.
Next up is qualifying at 13:25 local with coverage on IMSA Radio and TV.
LMP3 Switcheroo
Alex Vogel announced via social media that he has withdrawn from the #43 MRS-GT LMP3 effort citing difficulty with finding a comfortable seating position. He is replaced by James French who initially was named to race in the FastMD Racing Duqueine where he was replaced by Antonio Serravalle.
