On Thursday, VOLT Racing’s Trent Hindman paced IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge practice at Sebring International Raceway. Hindman turned in a lap of 131.577 seconds (102.528 mph) in the morning session, a track record for the Grand Sport class. The lap was also four-hundredths of a second faster than last year’s pole.
Practice No. 1
Hindman’s track record time was nearly three-quarters of a second faster than Classic BMW’s Jason Hart in second. The No. 72 at Hart’s disposal is the same car that finished fourth at Daytona. Murillo Racing’s Eric Foss was third quickest in the No. 56 Mercedes. Ramsey Racing’s Alexandre Premat was fourth quickest, while Rennsport One’s Spencer Pumpelly was fifth quickest.
In TCR, Compass Racing’s dominance of the class from January in Daytona continued. The Ontario-based team took the top three spots on the chart.
Veteran Pierre Kleinubing was quickest with a lap of 136.322 seconds (98.766 mph), good enough for 24th overall. Kleinubing’s lap was three-tenths of a second faster than Daytona class winner Britt Casey Jr. Kuno Wittmer was third fastest in the No. 74 Audi.
In Street Tuner, MINI JCW Team’s Mat Pombo was fastest with a lap of 142.929 seconds (94.201 mph), good enough for 32nd overall. The time was two-tenths of a second faster than BimmerWorld Racing’s Devin Jones. Mark Pombo in the No. 52 was third fastest.
IMSA CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTSCAR CHALLENGE ALAN JAY AUTOMOTIVE NETWORK 120 PRACTICE NO. 1 RESULTS
Two cars did not set times during the session. One is Rennsport One’s No. 18 Porsche. That car currently does not have any drivers listed for the weekend. There is a good sporting chance that the car could be withdrawn like it was at Daytona. The other is Compass Racing’s No. 76 McLaren shared by Paul Holton and Matt Plumb.
Practice No. 2
In the afternoon session, Pumpelly took the No. 28 Rennsport One Porsche to the top of the chart with a lap of 132.391 seconds (101.699 mph) around the 3.74-mile road course. That lap is over eight-tenths of a second off of Hindman’s time from the morning, but still would have been good enough for third fastest in that session.
Pumpelly’s lap was one-seventh of a second faster than Multimatic Motorsports’ Scott Maxwell in the No. 15 Ford Mustang GT4. Teammate Patrick Gallagher was third quickest, but nearly two-thirds of a second slower than Maxwell. Hindman was fourth quickest with the final lap of his session. Kyle Marcelli was fifth quickest in the KohR Motorsports No. 60 Ford.
In TCR, Casey was fastest with a lap of 136.468 seconds (98.660 mph), good enough for 24th overall. The time was one-seventh of a second off of Kleinubing’s best time from the morning. Kleinubing was second fastest, followed by Lee Carpentier in the eEuroparts.com Audi.
Finally, MINI JCW Team’s Mark Pombo put the No. 52 MINI on top of the Street Tuner chart with a lap of 143.415 seconds (93.881 mph), nearly half a second off of his brother’s pace in the No. 73 in the morning. Mark Pombo’s afternoon lap was two-tenths of a second faster than his brother Mat. Derek Jones was third quickest in the No. 37 MINI.
IMSA CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTSCAR CHALLENGE ALAN JAY AUTOMOTIVE NETWORK 120 PRACTICE NO. 2 RESULTS
Two teams did not set times in the session. Once again, the No. 18 Grand Sport Porsche for Rennsport One did not venture onto the track. They were joined in the paddock by Compass Racing’s TCR-class Audi for Wittmer and Rodrigo Sales. Qualifying for the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 is scheduled for 5:55 p.m. on Thursday.
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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