It was another Cadillac Racing one-two in the second practice session for Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Road America, this time with Pipo Derani at the top for Action Express Racing. His 1m47.986s – good for 134.95mph around the 4.048-mile, 14-turn circuit – was 0.201s quicker than Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais in the second Cadillac V-Series.R, reversing the order from the first practice.
“It was a positive day for all of us at Cadillac Racing,” said Derani. “A better order in the second practice, I would say. Jokes aside, it’s not only being quick in practice one and expecting to be quick in practice two. You have to keep working on it, trying different things to find a little bit here and a little bit there. It was a good start but obviously the competition is very stiff and strong. It’s a long track and a small mistake going really quick can cost you a couple of tenths and a position. Trying to put everything together is not easy and that’s why we’re trying to have a car that’s good and easier to achieve the desired lap times.
“Practice is very tight and we shouldn’t expect anything different in qualifying, which means that every detail is going to count,” Derani added.
Ricky Taylor was another 0.411s back in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06. The two BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8s were fourth and fifth, Connor De Phillippi in the No. 25 besting Philipp Eng in the No. 24. Nick Tandy was the best of the Porsches in the Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in sixth, just edging Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 5 JDC-Miller 963.
The new pavement at Road America has more grip, at least on the racing line, and is producing times below track records in several classes, indicating that several records will fall in qualifying. Even the GTP cars were under the DPi track record, set in 2019 by Dane Cameron at 1m48.715s.
The newfound traction on line has a price, though – a marked difference in traction once a car strays off the rubbered-in pavement, making passing in the race a challenge, and it has contributed to the plethora of session interruptions for crashes.
“It was very messy and very difficult to get a read with the red flags,” said Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia after the first practice session. “The track is tricky in a way. There is definitely way more grip overall. In years before, the racing line was way wider so you had room to find your way or choose your line. Here it is a tiny bit different. You need to really stick to the line, otherwise the drop-off in grip is quite fast. That’s why I think there were so many mistakes and offs and crashes. It’s going to be tricky in the race when you get passed or need to pass.”
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The second session was better than the first, in which more than a third of the practice time was lost to red flags. The second session had three stoppages — one for a harmless spin, but two for significant crashes. The first heavy crash was Steven Thomas in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 car toward the exit of the Carousel, the second was Mike Skeen in the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG crashing in The Kink.
Mikael Grenier had previously set the GTD fast time in the No. 32, which held as the fast GT time overall until the final 15 minutes, when the pro classes had the track to themselves. Grenier’s 2m4.327s (117.213mph) was quicker than the existing GTD record set by Bean Keating, also in a Mercedes AMG, in 2019 by almost a second.
Grenier bested Madison Snow in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 by 0.287s. Frederik Schandorff was third at 2m4.911s for Inception Racing in the No. 70 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. Seb Priaulx (No. 80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R) and Bill Auberlen (No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3) competed the top five.
Once the qualifying simulations for the pro classes began in the final 15 minutes, the GTD PRO cars went to the top of the time sheet, Jordan Taylor turning the top time of 2m3.712s (117.8mph) in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C8.R. That time was a relatively large margin over second-place Daniel Juncadella’s 1m4.183s in the No. 29 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. Jack Hawksworth was third in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 at 2m4.225s. All the GTD PRO cars were within a second and all under Hawksworth’s track record set last year.
Ryan Dalziel, who with Dwight Merriman is the defending race winner in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA, set the fast time in LMP2 at 1m52.244s (129.831mph), followed by George Kurtz in the No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing ORECA by 0.248s). Louis Deletraz was third at 1m52.581s for Tower Motorsports in the No. 8.
Garett Grist led LMP3 at 1m58.069s in the No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier. Matthew Bell was second in the No. 13 AWA Racing Duqueine with a 1m58.488s lap. Gerry Kraut was third in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Duqueine, another 0.186s back of Kraut.
UP NEXT: Qualifying in three separate sessions begins Saturday at 2:15pm Eastern. It will be carried live on IMSA.tv.