Thursday saw the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge teams take to the track in an official session for the first time in six weeks. C360R’s Matt Plumb was fastest overall in his McLaren 570s GT4 with a lap of 139.832 seconds (87.533 mph).
Practice No. 1
Plumb’s quick time came roughly halfway through the one hour practice session. To give you an idea of just how much faster Circuit of the Americas is in early May as opposed to September, Plumb’s lap was 3.6 seconds faster than the time Scott Maxwell set to win the pole last year.
Plumb’s lap was eight-hundredths of a second faster than Rennsport One’s Dillon Machavern in his Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR. Nico Rondet in the No. 77 McLaren for C360R was third fastest, followed by CJ Wilson Racing’s Marc Miller. TeamTGM’s Guy Cosmo was fifth quickest.
In Street Tuner, it was Rennsport One at the front of the field. Defending class co-champion Spencer Pumpelly was fastest with a lap of 149.369 seconds (81.945 mph). The lap was six-tenths of a second faster than Murillo Racing’s Christian Szymczak in the team’s Mazda MX-5.
Eric Foss was third quickest in the No. 56 Porsche Cayman, while Mat Pombo in the No. 73 MINI was fourth. C360’s Pierre Kleinubing was fifth quickest in the sole Audi S3 in the field.
Results of Circuit of the Americas 120 Practice No. 1
Practice No. 2
In the afternoon session, Cosmo took TeamTGM’s No. 4 Porsche to the top of the charts with a lap of 139.966 seconds (87.450 mph), the only lap under two minutes and 20 seconds in the session. Cosmo’s lap was more than four-tenths of a second quicker than Rondet in the No. 77 McLaren.
Bodymotion Racing’s Trent Hindman was third quickest in his Porsche, followed by KohR Motorsports’ Dean Martin in the sole Ford Mustang GT4 on the grid. Kenny Wilden was fifth quickest in the No. 68 Motorsport in Action McLaren.
In Street Tuner, MINI JCW Team’s Mat Pombo was fastest with a lap of 150.311 seconds (81.431 mph), nearly a full second slower than Pumpelly’s best lap in the morning session. Pombo’s lap was a tenth of a second faster than CRG-I Do Borrow’s Owen Trinkler in the Nissan Altima.
Kleinubing was third quickest, followed by Foss. Freedom Autosport’s Stevan McAleer was fifth in the fastest of the Mazda MX-5’s.
Results of Circuit of the Americas 120 Practice No. 2
The IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge teams have one more brief practice on Friday morning at 10:45 a.m. local time, just prior to qualifying. The Circuit of the Americas 120 is scheduled for a 2:45 p.m. CDT green flag. The race will be streamed live at IMSA.com.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.