Tom Blomqvist went fastest in opening practice for the 6 hour IMSA race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in a session which featured three red flag stoppages.
The #60 MSR Acura driver set a 1:16.209 to go quickest, almost three tenths faster than teammate Nick Yelloly in the sister #93 MSR Acura.
Jack Aitken was third in the #31 Action Express Cadillac, a further 0.055 off Yelloly ahead.
In LMP2, Mikkel Jensen was quickest in the #11 TDS Oreca 07-Gibson, setting a 1:17.407. However, Jensen caused one of the red flags in the session, making contact with Lilou Wadoux in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari, meaning the car will lose its quickest time in qualifying as a result.
Second and third in LMP2 were Nicklas Nielsen, driving the #88 AF Corse Oreca, just 7 thousandths off Jensen, and Tom Dillmann, in the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca.
Aston Martin quickest in GTD
Over in GTD, Valentin Hasse-Clot was quickest in the #19 van der Steur Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, with a 1:24.403. The fastest GTD Pro-entered car was Davide Rigon’s #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, 0.016 off Hasse-Clot.
The third fastest in the two classes, and second fastest GTD car, was driven by Matt Bell in the #13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R, with Frederik Schandorff third fastest in GTD, fourth fastest in both classes, in the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari.
Second fastest in GTD Pro, sixth in both classes, was Andrea Caldarelli, driving the #9 Pfaff Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, while third in the class, ninth with GTD cars included, was Fred Vervisch in the #65 Ford Mustang GT3.
With Jensen causing the second red flag of the session, the first was as a result of Nicky Catsburg stopping his #4 Pratt Miller Corvette Z06 GT3.R on track, with an oil leak. This led to a considerable delay while the fluids on the racing surface were cleaned up.
The third red flag was caused by BMW’s Philipp Eng, who spun into the gravel trap in his #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 with 13 minutes remaining.
Check the IMSA website for the full session results.
Discussion about this post