Wayne Taylor Racing was fastest in Saturday morning’s second free practice at Road America. In a session that was ran primarily in wet weather, it was Jordan Taylor in the No. 40 WTR Cadillac leading the way with a lap of 2:07.647.
Am Exclusive
The session started off with a 15-minute segment for Bronze drivers only. Topping the mini-session was AO Racing’s PJ Hyett with a 2:21.198. Till Bechtolsheimer was best of the GTD Bronzes with him turning a lap of 2:29.498 in the No. 66 Gradient Mustang. There was a red flag during the Bronze Session as Brendan Iribe went off at the gravel trap at Turn 1. The No. 70 Ineption Ferrari will therefore lose their fastest qualifying lap during this afternoon’s session.
More Stoppages
Once the full field joined for the balance of the hour and forty-five minute practice, the session was slowed a further three times. First, Jack Hawskworth went off course into the gravel at Turn 6 with the No. 14 Lexus. Following Hawksworth, George Kurtz also went into the gravel in Turn 6 in his No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing Oreca. Finally, Marco Wittman in the No. 25 BMW went off in the Turn 1 gravel with twenty-five minutes remaining. Therefore, per the rulebook, all three cars will lose their fastest lap in qualifying.
Behind Taylor and Cadillac in GTP was the No. 24 BMW with Sheldon van der Linde with a 2:07.812. Friday’s fast man, Nick Yelloly, put the No. 93 Acura third at the end of the session. The top seven in the mixed condition session were within one second.
LMP2
Mattias Beche placed the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca at the head of the LMP2 class. The Frenchmen posted a lap of 2:11.846. Harry Ticknell’s 2:12.121 placed the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport by PR1/Mathiasen Oreca in second. AO Racing rounded out the top 3 with a lap of 2:12.857 courtesy of Jonny Edgar.
GTD PRO
Ford Multimatic Motorsports goes 1-2 in GTD PRO as the Mustang looks good in the wet. The No. 65 outpaced the sister No. 64 thanks to Christopher Mies lapping the four-mile circuit at 2:21.494. Thomas Preining for Manthey clocked the third fastest lap in class. Despite the adverse conditions, eleven of the twelve cars in class were within one second.
GTD
The fastest GT lap of the session came courtesy of Casper Stevenson. The Dane put the No. 81 DragonSpeed Corvette tops of GTD with a 2:21.468. Watkins Glen winners Manthey 1st Phorm was second in the session with Morris Schuring turning a lap of 2:21.729. Finally, Sebring winners AF Corse round out the top 3 with Lilou Wadoux Ducellier posting a 2:22.098.
The WeatherTech Championship is back on track next to set the grid. Qualifying commences at 3:25pm CDT following the conclusion of the Road America 120 Michelin Pilot Challenge race.
Headline Photo: The No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac Photo Courtesy: Cadillac Racing
