Sébastien Bourdais set the fastest time in second practice for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, just a short time after the #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R spun at the first corner.
26 cars knuckled down on finding the rhythm around the street circuit in an uninterrupted 90-minute session. The only one missing was the #32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, which was still in the pits following its shunt in Practice 1 that morning.
Throughout most of those 90 minutes, the #25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 stood on top of the timesheets, with both Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly setting fast times. Yelloly took the top time after 50 minutes with a 1:12.552, then improved to a 1:12.121 with 30 minutes left, with the two Cadillacs second and third behind him.
The #01 Cadillac of Bourdais made a late improvement to a 1:12.359 but then spun off at turn one. The Frenchman was able to get his car out of danger, and on his next flying lap, he went quickest in all three sectors and set a 1:11.637 at the chequered flag to take first place.
Yelloly finished second, followed by the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac of Pipo Derani in third. Cadillacs and BMWs alternated top four spots with the #24 RLL BMW of Philipp Eng in fourth.
Then it was the two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s in fifth and sixth, led by the #6 of Nick Tandy ahead of the #7 of Dane Cameron. Tijmen van der Helm went seventh-fastest in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche, ahead of the two Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06es.
Jordan Taylor was the quicker of the two WTRAndretti Acuras, going eighth-fastest in the #40.
Over in GTD, it was the #45 WTRAndretti Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Danny Formal that led the way. Formal went to first place with a 1:18.546, and over his next two laps he went up to a 1:18.361. That put the Costa Rican driver within six-tenths of the GTD course record set last year by Marco Sørensen.
But a last-minute flyer from new full-time driver Stevan McAleer gave the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 the top time – a 1:18.259 in the resurrected white and green Acura.
Behind Formal, Albert Costa went third-fastest in the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. Matthew Bell continued his form from Practice 1 and was fourth-quickest in the #13 AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Loris Spinelli rounded out the top five in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini.
The new #28 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT3 has made steady progress in two practice sessions. Andy Lee’s best lap of 1:19.311 still had him last among the 16 GTD cars that ran, but he and Elias Sabo were able to get plenty of practice under their belts.
Qualifying begins this evening from 5:00 PM PDT (local time).
Images © Richard Dole, Michael L. Levitt / IMSA
