Once the heat of the day finally began to peter out, Porsche GT Team came to play Friday at Lime Rock Park. Nick Tandy set the best lap of the day in the final session with a lap at 106.593 mph.
Practice No. 1
In the morning session, Tandy was fastest with a lap at 105.990 mph. This lap was one-third of a second faster than Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin. Gavin’s regular teammate Tommy Milner is once again not driving this weekend, but he’s still here this weekend and was in his fire suit for a photo shoot this morning. BMW Team RLL’s Connor De Phillippi was third quickest, while Jan Magnussen was fourth in the second Corvette. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing IMSA’s Richard Westbrook was fifth. The entire class was separated by less than nine-tenths of a second.
Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian continued to show strong single-lap pace. Mario Farnbacher took his AutoNation-sponsored Acura NSX GT3 to the top of the GT Daytona charts with a lap at 102.414 mph. Farnbacher’s lap was seven-hundredths of a second faster than Riley Motorsports’ Ben Keating in his Mercedes. Paul Miller Racing’s Bryan Sellers was third fastest with his Lamborghini, followed by the Porsche of Park Place Motorsports’ Patrick Long. Wright Motorsports’ Matt Campbell was fifth in his Porsche.
IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP NORTHEAST GRAND PRIX PRACTICE NO. 1 RESULTS
Practice No. 2
The mid-afternoon practice session saw speeds drop off with the high temperatures and high humidity. In the heat of the day, it was Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia, who won the pole at Lime Rock last year, who was fastest at 105.491 mph. Garcia’s lap was just two-hundredths of a second faster than De Philippi. Jesse Krohn in the second BMW was third fastest, then the Ford GTs of Westbrook and Joey Hand.
GT Daytona saw Turner Motorsport’s Bill Auberlen fastest in his BMW M6 GT3 with a lap at 102.609 mph. Despite the hot weather and bright sunlight, this lap held up to be the fastest GT Daytona lap of the day. Auberlen’s lap was a tenth of a second faster than the Ferrari of Scuderia Corsa’s Toni Vilander. Dennis Olsen, racing the PFAFF Motorsports Porsche this weekend in place of regular driver Scott Hargrove, was third quickest. Marco Seefried in the Park Place Porsche was fourth and Campbell was fifth.
IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP NORTHEAST GRAND PRIX PRACTICE NO. 2 RESULTS
Practice No. 3
In the final session of the day, the speeds climbed as the shadows began to grow. Tandy’s quick lap for the day came with less than two minutes remaining in practice for the day. It was still three-hundredths of a second slower than Garcia’s pole lap from last year.
Tandy’s lap was about one-sixth of a second faster than teammate Laurens Vanthoor. Westbrook was third fastest, followed by Gavin and the No. 66 Ford of Dirk Müller.
GT Daytona saw Sellers go fastest in his Lamborghini with a lap at 102.446 mph, about eight-hundredths of a second slower than Auberlen’s quick lap in the previous session. Sellers’ lap was two-hundredths of a second faster than Long in the Park Place Porsche. Farnbacher was third quickest, then Andy Lally in the special Apollo 11-themed Magnus Racing Lamborghini. PFAFF Motorsports’ Zacharie Robichon was fifth quickest.
IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP NORTHEAST GRAND PRIX PRACTICE NO. 3 RESULTS
Unlike the Michelin Pilot Challenge practice sessions, all three WeatherTech practice sessions were clean. There was no wall contact and no red flags in the over three hours of on-track activity Friday.
Qualifying is scheduled for 9:35 a.m. Saturday morning. Coverage of the session is scheduled to begin at 9:25 a.m. on both IMSA.com and FansChoice.tv.
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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