Former Pfaff Motorsport co-drivers and reigning GTD PRO champs Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet put on battle for supremacy within both the Porsche Penske Motorsport squad and overall as the team’s two 963s went one-two in the second practice session for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.
Campbell came out on top in the No. 7 963, posting a 1m14.085s time as he went under the session-ending checker to best Jaminet in the No. 6 by 0.185s. They had traded fast laps for the final eight minutes of the session in what was perhaps a preview of qualifying later today. The two Porsches were followed by the pair of BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8s, Philipp Eng coming out on top of Nick Yelloly in the intra-squad rivalry. Eng had a 1m14.550s lap in the No, 24, only 0.012s better than Yelloly in the No. 25.
Sebastien Bourdais was fifth for Cadillac Racing in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing V-Series.R, and Tom Blomqvist made Meyer Shank Racing the better of the two Acura squads in sixth. The top nine GTP cars were within a second, with only the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 outside that delta.
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The times for both the GTP cars and GTD PRO teams tumbled in the final 15 minutes as the two classes were alone on track, and Porsche ended up on top of GTD PRO as well with Klaus Bachler’s 1m22.905s lap in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports 911 GT3 R. Jules Gounon saved his best for last, pushing the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG to second in PRO with a 1m23.168s on his final lap. Jack Hawksworth, who was quickest in yesterday’s first practice, was third, just over half a second back of Bachler.
Mikkel Jensen once again was quickest in LMP2, piloting the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA to a 1m16.758s to better Ben Hanley in the No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA by 0.065s. Ryan Dalziel was third for Era Motorsport with a 1m17.002s.
The Era Motorsport ORECA was one of the cars involved in one of three incidents that interrupted the session. Dwight Merriman was at the wheel of the No. 18 when Dennis Andersen in the No. 20 High Class Racing ORECA LMP2 plowed into him in the brake zone for Turn 1. Other red flags were for Louis Deletraz spinning the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA LMP2 off Cours at the exit of Turn 1 and for Orey Fidani ending up in the gravel in Turn 4 in the No. 13 AWA Duqueine LMP3, just as the time for the Pro-Am classes to be on track ended.
Before Fidani’s spin, though, his co-driver Matthew Bell turned the quickest lap for the LMP3 class with a 1m20.840s in the No. 13. Dakota Dickerson was second quickest in the No. 54 MLT Motorsports Ligier, but only by 0.003s. Bijoy Garg was third in the No. 29 Jr III Racing Ligier at 1m20.885s.
Loris Spinelli bettered his GTD position by one from yesterday’s session, topping the class with a 1m23.0125s lap in the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by US RaceTronics Lamborghini Huracán and splitting the top two in GTD PRO. Mikael Grenier was second in the No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG, 0.459s off Spinelli, while Kay van Berlo was third in the No. 91 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R at 1m23.826s. Philip Ellis (No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG) and Bill Auberlen (No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3) completed the top 5 in GTD.
UP NEXT: Qualifying, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, broadcast live on IMSA.tv.