Connor De Phillippi, just as he did in Friday’s first practice session for the IMSA SportsCar weekend at Road America, set a quick time early in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8. In the second session, though, his 1m50.335s time (132.08mph) held for the best of the weekend so far.
Just as the first practice ended under red flag, this session also was effectively ended when Ben Keating went off track in the Carousel and clouted an unprotected part of the concrete wall with the No. 2 United Autosports ORECA, after his co-driver Ben Hanley set the fastest LMP2 time. The ORECA suffered heavy damage, but Keating’s upturned thumb out of the door let emergency workers know he was OK. Keating had been wide at Turn 8 just before the accident, but it’s unknown if both incidents had the same cause, or if going wide prior left him with dirty tires unable to hold on in the Carousel.
Although the session did go green with a little over 2m left, many cars remained in the pits and only one driver bettered his time in the final go.
Filipe Albuquerque, who set the fast time Friday, was only 0.009s off De Phillippi to lead the two Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06s in second and third. Jordan Taylor had a 1m50.620s lap in the No. 40 Acura to trail his teammate by 0.258s.
Jess Krohn was fourth quick in the No. 24 M Hybrid V8, but an off-track excursion in Road America’s notorious Kink may have damaged the car, and the crew was taking the rear of the BMW apart in the garage before the session ended. Gianmaria Bruni completed the top five in the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche 963 to lead the Porsche contingent.
Hanley may have pushed the No. 2 ORECA to the fast time, but the United Autosports crew has a lot of work ahead of them to get the car ready for Sunday’s race, much less Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session. Tom Dillmann was 0.053s off Hanley in the No. 52 Euro Interpol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA to split the United entries, Paul Di Resta having posted a 1m53.575 in the No. 22.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1406]
Scott Andrews in the No. 79 JDC-Miller MotorSports ORECA and Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 88 AF Corse ORECA rounded out the top five.
Jack Hawksworth, 2022 winner with Ben Barnicoat at Road America in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, was the quickest GTD PRO driver in the session with a 2m03.475s lap (120.94mph). Alexander Sims followed in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R (2m03.615s), as did Bryan Sellers in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 (1m03.648s).
Dirk Mueller and Nicky Catsburg rounded out the top five for Ford Multimatic Motorsports and Corvette Racing by PMM, respectively, behind the top two GTD runners.
Loris Spinelli was at the head of the GTD field in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, his 2m03.804s time 0.249s better than Onofrio Triarsi in the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, making its first appearance in a sprint race.
Mikael Grenier was third in GTD in the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3. Roman De Angelis (No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo) and Russell Ward (No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3) were fourth and fifth.
The session was interrupted by two red flags, the first a seven-minute stoppage for the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 stopped on course, and the second for Keating’s incident.
Qualifying is next, slated for a 5:20 p.m. ET start, carried live on IMSA.tv and on Peacock.