NASCAR on TV this week

Daniel Mancinelli Fastest in Opening Utah Sprint-X Practice

In the first practice session for Pirelli World Challenge’s Sprint-X class, TR3 Racing’s Daniel Mancinelli came out on top.  Mancinelli’s lap of 108.770 seconds (100.877 mph) around the 3.0479-mile course was three-tenths of  a second faster than RealTime Racing’s No. 43 Acura for Tom Dyer and Ryan Eversley.

Cadillac Racing’s No. 3 for Johnny O’Connell and Ricky Taylor was third quickest, followed by Àlvaro Parente in the K-PAX Racing No. 9 McLaren.  Mark Wilkins in RealTime Racing’s No. 93 Acura was fifth fastest in class.

In GT Pro-Am, Black Swan Racing’s Jeroen Bleekemolen was fastest with a lap of 109.404 seconds (100.293 mph), good enough for fifth overall.  Bleekemolen’s best lap was less than half of a tenth of a second faster than the Always Evolving Nissan of Frankie Montecalvo and Ricardo Sanchez.

Nearly a half-second further back was GMG Racing’s No. 14 Porsche for Mathieu Jaminet and James Sofronas.  Alec Udell was fourth quickest in the No. 77 Porsche, while Will Stevens and Andrew Kim were fifth in the No.  78 Absolute Racing Bentley.

In GT Am-Am, NGT Motorsport’s Ferrari for Henrique Cisneros and Jonathan Ziegelman was fastest with a lap of 112.268 seconds (97.734 mph), good for 21st overall.  The lap was seven-tenths of a second faster than R. Ferri Motorsport’s No. 013 Ferrari for Drew Regitz and Kris Wilson.

GT Cup saw a late entry on top of the sheet.  TruSpeed Autosports’ No. 46 Porsche shared by Tom Haacker and Sloan Urry was only added to the entry list late Thursday night, but their Porsche has proven to be fast.  The No. 46 was quickest in class (23rd overall) with a lap of 114.574 seconds (95.767 mph).  The lap was 1.15 seconds faster than Dream Racing Motorsport’s No. 55 Lamborghini for Alessandro Bressan and Yuki Harata.

GTS saw Stephen Cameron Racing’s No. 019 shared by Ari Balogh and Greg Liefooghe fastest with a lap of 120.567 seconds (91.007 mph), good for 29th.  The lap was a little more than a half-second faster than NOLAsport’s No. 47 Porsche Cayman for Jason Hart and Matt Travis.

Sprint-X teams have one more practice session scheduled for 4:40 p.m. EDT.  No coverage of the session will be available.

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.