Sunday’s defeat at Watkins Glen has not cost Wayne Taylor Racing any of their speed. Jordan Taylor was fastest in opening practice at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park with a lap of 69.443 seconds (127.577 mph).
Taylor’s lap was a mere seven-thousandths of a second faster than Tequila Patron ESM’s Ryan Dalziel in the No. 2 Nissan DPi. Mazda Motorsports’ Jonathan Bomarito was third fastest, three-tenths off the pace. Dane Cameron was fourth fastest in the Action Express Racing No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R., while Joao Barbosa was fifth fastest.
In Prototype Challenge, Performance Tech Motorsports was once again on top. Patricio O’Ward was once again quickest with a lap of 72.512 seconds (122.081 mph), good enough for 1oth overall. O’Ward’s lap was 1.8 seconds faster than Ryan Lewis in BAR1 Motorsports’ No. 20. When Don Yount was driving the No. 20, he stopped out on course and drew the first red flag of the session.
For BAR1 Motorsports’ second entry, the team waited until the last minute to confirm Garret Grist and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge regular James Vance in the car. Grist got himself into some trouble during the session as well. Grist had contact with the WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Gunnar Jeannette entering turn 8. While Jeannette was already having his own problems with a loose wheel, the contact spun Jeannette into the tires to draw the second red flag of the session.
In GT Le Mans, things were a bit calmer and very team-oriented. Porsche GT Team flexed their muscle and took the first two spots in class. Laurens Vanthoor was fastest with a lap of 75.151 seconds (117.794 mph), three-eighths of a second faster than teammate Patrick Pilet in the No. 911 Porsche. Alexander Sims was third quickest in the No. 25 BMW, followed by teammate John Edwards in the No. 24 BMW. Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R was fifth. Quite literally, the order was the two Porsches, then BMW, Chevrolet and Ford.
GT Daytona saw Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Acura continue their pace from Watkins Glen. Andy Lally put the No. 93 Acura at the top of the charts with a lap of 77.412 seconds (114.354 mph). Lally’s lap was two-tenths of a second faster than Turner Motorsport’s BMW M6 GT3 for Jens Klingmann. SunEnergy1 Racing’s Tristan Vautier was third quickest, followed by Riley Motorsports’ Jeroen Bleekemolen. Stevenson Motorsports’ Lawson Aschenbach was fifth.
Results of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix Practice No. 1
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams have one more practice session on Friday starting at 3:55 p.m. It is scheduled to run for an hour.
About the author
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.
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