BMW M Team RLL’s Sheldon van der Linde took the top spot in this afternoon’s second practice session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
With low fuel and fresh tyres, Van der Linde leapt to the top of the board in the #25 M Hybrid V8 with a 1:47.884 lap time. That took the top spot from the #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist on a 1:47.998.
The two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s were third and fourth, led by the #6 of Matt Campbell, then the #7 of Daytona winner Felipe Nasr.
Dries Vanthoor improved to fifth in the #24 RLL BMW just before the session was stopped due to a red flag, putting him ahead of the #93 MSR Acura of Renger van der Zande.
Ricky Taylor was the fastest Cadillac driver, in seventh driving the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R, ahead of the #40 Caddy of Louis Deletraz, and the #63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63 of Romain Grosjean in ninth.
The #23 Aston Martin Team THOR Valkyrie was limited to just 17 laps but did start to find more of its pace – Ross Gunn set a 1:50.113 near the end, a 1.2-second improvement from Practice 1.
The session was stopped prematurely when Brendan Iribe in the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 clipped the dirt at the entrance to turn 13, then spun off into the tyre barriers. Remarkably, despite a significant broadside hit, Iribe drove his yellow and black Ferrari back to the pits.
It was the only incident of note in the afternoon session.
Mikkel Jensen led LMP2 in the #11 TDS Racing ORECA 07. Jensen’s best time was a 1:50.961, two-tenths better than Kakunoshin Ohta’s best time in the #18 Era Motorsport ORECA in second, with Dane Cameron in third aboard the #99 AO Racing ‘Spike’ ORECA.
Cameron’s co-driver PJ Hyett set the fastest time among LMP2 Bronzes with Qualifying set for tomorrow.
Laurin Heinrich and AO Racing were the first to break the two-minute barrier in a GT car this weekend: Heinrich and the #77 ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3 R set a 1:59.898 to lead the GTD PRO class.
Heinrich put four-tenths to the second-place #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari of Albert Costa, who was second in class. Then it was another second to the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 in third, driven to its best time by Kyle Kirkwood.
In GTD, Kenton Koch set the pace in the #32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3. He set a 2:00.300 to lead the way, followed by the #021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of his former Korthoff co-driver Mike Skeen.
Before Iribe’s accident, Ollie Millroy set the third-quickest time in GTD aboard the #70 Ferrari.
Two cars didn’t set a time in this 90-minute session: The #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 which crashed in Practice 1, and the #73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA LMP2.
Tonight, the third and final practice session of the day begins at 7:45 PM ET.
Images © Jack Webster / Dailysportscar.com
