Pipo Derani set the fastest time of 1:47.986 in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R machine in the second practice session at Road America.
Running saw the pro/am categories of LMP2, LMP3 and GTD get exclusive running on track in the first fifteen minutes of the session, with the GTP and GTD Pro entries getting sole use of the track in the final fifteen minutes of the session.
The first practice session on Friday was marred by several red flag periods and there were more again in second practice.
It only took 10 minutes of running before the first red flag came out.
The stoppage came courtesy of Steven Thomas in the #11 Oreca 07 LMP2 entry from TDS Racing hitting the wall at Turn 10, just as Giedo van der Garde did in the sister #35 TDS LMP2 entry in FP1.
There was another red flag 10 minutes after the session went back to green, as the #77 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R tagged the wall at Turn 11.
A third red flag came later on when Mike Skeen had a heavy impact that ripped off his rear left wheel at Turn 11 in the #32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Once the final red flag was cleared it wasn’t long until the LMP2, LMP3 and GTD cars went back to the pits to allow the GTP and GTD Pro machines to have exclusive use of Road America for the final fifteen minutes, as qualifying simulations saw times tumble.
Derani set his benchmark late on and led the #01 Chip Ganassi Cadillac V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais, in a reverse of the 1-2 seen in opening practice.
Bourdais’ time in the #01 Cadillac was 1:48.187, with the Konica Minolta #10 Acura ARX-06 in third, thanks to Ricky Taylor’s time of 1:48.598.
Fourth and fifth went to the two BMW M Hybrids, with Connor De Phillippi setting a time of 1:48.783 in the #25 car, ahead of Philipp Eng’s time of 1:49.070 in the #24 car.
In sixth place was the #6 Penske Porsche 963 of Nick Tandy, who lapped the 15-turn Road America circuit in a time of 1:49.078.
Seventh went to the JDC Miller #5 Porsche, with Mike Rockenfeller setting a time of 1:49.158.
The second of the two Acuras ended the session in eighth, with Colin Braun lapping Road America in a time of 1:49.228 in the #60 Meyer Shank entry.
The top 10 was rounded out by the final two Porsche 963s, with Matt Campbell setting a time of 1:49.761 in the #7 car, ahead of Gianmaria Bruni in the #59 Proton Competition entry, setting a time of 1:50.902
Leading the LMP2 field and 11th overall was the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 entry, with Ryan Dalziel setting a time of 1:52.244.
Second in LMP2 and 12th overall went to the #04 Crowdstrike Racing Oreca with Ben Hanley setting a time of 1:52.492, ahead of third place Louis Deletraz in the #8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 entry, setting a time of 1:52.581.
In LMP3, Garret Grist led the way once again with a time of 1:58.069 in the #30 Ligier JS P320 machine, good enough for 17th place in the overall classification.
In 18th and 19th overall were the second and third-placed LMP3 entries, both in Duqueine D08 machines.
Second in LMP3 went to the #13 AWA Duqueine of Matthew Bell, who set a time of 1:58.488.
The top three in LMP3 were rounded out by Gerry Kraut in the #85 JDC Miller Duqueine, setting a time of 1:58.674.
Jordan Taylor led the GTD Pro field and finished 25th overall in the #3 Corvette Racing entry, setting a time of 2:03.712, ahead of the second-placed GTD Pro entrant Daniel Juncadella in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG and third-placed GTD Pro Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Vasser Sullivan in the Lexus RC F GT3.
Juncadella and Hawksworth set times of 2:04.183 and 2:04.225 respectively, good enough for 26th and 27th overall.
First in GTD and 28th overall went to the #32 Mercedes that caused the final red flag of the session, but not before Skeen’s co-driver Mikael Grenier could set a time of 2:04.327.
Second in GTD and 31st overall was the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Madison Snow, setting a time of 2:04.614 ahead of third-placed GTD entrant Frederik Schandorff in the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO.
Schandorff’s time of 2:04.911 was good enough for 32nd overall.
Qualifying for Sunday’s 2-hour and 40-minute race commences at 13:15 local time on Saturday.
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