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Charles Bradley

IMSA CTMP: Braun’s Acura beats AXR Cadillac in first practice

Braun’s Acura topped the 90-minute session for the 34-car entry with a quickest time of 1m07.341s, over three quarters of a second clear of all rivals at the fabled sportscar track near Toronto.

Ricky Taylor’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 set the early benchmark at 1m09.803s. That was soon pipped by Alexander Sims in Action Express Racing’s Cadillac V-Series.R and then Augusto Farfus in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 – keen to make amends after his first-corner exit at Watkins Glen last time out.

Sims retook the top spot by 0.085s, as he worked down to 1m09.212s, but was quickly eclipsed by Tom Blomqvist’s Meyer Shank-run Acura, who dipped under the 1m08s barrier with 1m08.889s, 0.073s faster than Nick Yelloly in the #25 BMW.

Taylor then took P1 back with 1m08.568s, before Farfus produced 1m08.423s to go top, and Taylor then got within 0.011s.

With 20 minutes to go, Filipe Albuquerque took over the WTR Acura from Taylor and set 1m08.316s before Braun (in for Blomqvist) bested him in the MSR version by 0.043s with 1m08.273s. As Braun pitted, Albuquerque retook the top spot with 1m08.138s.

Pipo Derani (AXR Caddy) then entered the chat with a 1m08.121s, pipping Albuquerque for P1 by 0.017s before a red flag for an LMP3 car stopping on track.

The session went green with just four minutes remaining, and Braun unleashed 1m07.341s, putting him on top by 0.78s.

Derani was second, ahead of Albuquerque, Renger van der Zande (Chip Ganassi Racing Caddy), Farfus, Mathieu Jaminet (#6 Porsche Penske 963) and the sister 963 of Matt Campbell. Yelloly and Mike Rockenfeller (JDC Miller Porsche) rounded out the nine-car GTP field.

Garett Grist led the LMP3 field for Jr III Racing, ahead of Felipe Fraga (Riley) and Matthew Bell (AWA).

#12: Vasser Sullivan, Lexus RC F GT3, GTD: Aaron Telitz, Frankie Montecalvo (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

Lexus leads McLaren, Corvette in GTD

In GTD, Alex Riberas led the early going with a lap of 1m16.925s in his Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage. Trent Hindman got to within 0.011s of that in his Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R before co-driver Alan Brynjolfsson took over a spun at Turn 1.

Antonio Garcia reset the bar with 1m16.894s and then 1m16.724s in his Corvette C8.R to pull two tenths clear of the opposition.

But Frankie Montecalvo outdid the Spaniard, producing 1m16.558s in his #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F.

Frederik Schandorff was a surprise second in the #70 Inception McLaren 720S, ahead of Garcia and Ben Barnicoat in Lexus’s all-pro entry.

Second practice starts at 8:00am ET on Saturday.

Cla Driver Class Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
United States Colin Braun
GTP Acura ARX-06 34 1'07.341     181.761
2 Brazil Pipo Derani
United Kingdom Alexander Sims
GTP Cadillac V-Series.R 39 1'08.121 0.780 0.780 179.680
3 United States Ricky Taylor
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
GTP Acura ARX-06 46 1'08.138 0.797 0.017 179.635
4 France Sébastien Bourdais
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
GTP Cadillac V-Series.R 33 1'08.353 1.012 0.215 179.070
5 Austria Philipp Eng
Brazil Augusto Farfus
GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 46 1'08.423 1.082 0.070 178.887
6 United Kingdom Nick Tandy
France Mathieu Jaminet
GTP Porsche 963 40 1'08.501 1.160 0.078 178.684
7 Australia Matt Campbell
Brazil Felipe Nasr
GTP Porsche 963 31 1'08.670 1.329 0.169 178.244
8 United States Connor de Phillippi
United Kingdom Nick Yelloly
GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 45 1'08.837 1.496 0.167 177.811
9 Netherlands Tijmen van der Helm
Germany Mike Rockenfeller
GTP Porsche 963 53 1'08.890 1.549 0.053 177.675
10 Canada Garett Grist
United States Ari Balogh
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 18 1'12.270 4.929 3.380 169.365
11 United States Gar Robinson
Brazil Felipe Fraga
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 47 1'12.482 5.141 0.212 168.870
12 Canada Orey Fidani
United Kingdom Matthew Bell
LMP3 Duqueine D08 48 1'12.600 5.259 0.118 168.595
13 United States Lance Willsey
Portugal Joao Barbosa
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 47 1'13.444 6.103 0.844 166.658
14 Canada Anthony Mantella
United Kingdom Wayne Boyd
LMP3 Duqueine D08 48 1'13.534 6.193 0.090 166.454
15 Antoine Comeau
George Staikos
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 39 1'16.466 9.125 2.932 160.071
16 United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Aaron Telitz
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 42 1'16.558 9.217 0.092 159.879
17 United States Brendan Iribe
Switzerland Frederik Schandorff
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 EVO 54 1'16.670 9.329 0.112 159.645
18 Spain Antonio Garcia
United States Jordan Taylor
GTD PRO Corvette C8.R GTD 44 1'16.724 9.383 0.054 159.533
19 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United Kingdom Ben Barnicoat
GTD PRO Lexus RC F GT3 40 1'16.744 9.403 0.020 159.491
20 United States Patrick Gallagher
United States Robby Foley
GTD BMW M4 GT3 50 1'16.762 9.421 0.018 159.454
21 Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
Italy Loris Spinelli
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 41 1'16.824 9.483 0.062 159.325
22 United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Spain Alex Riberas
GTD PRO Aston Martin Vantage GT3 44 1'16.925 9.584 0.101 159.116
23 United States Alan Brynjolfsson
United States Trent Hindman
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 45 1'16.936 9.595 0.011 159.093
24 United States PJ Hyett
Seb Priaulx
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 45 1'16.980 9.639 0.044 159.002
25 United States Russell Ward
Switzerland Philip Ellis
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 50 1'16.996 9.655 0.016 158.969
26 United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
GTD BMW M4 GT3 37 1'17.018 9.677 0.022 158.924
27 Spain Daniel Juncadella
France Jules Gounon
GTD PRO Mercedes AMG GT3 50 1'17.079 9.738 0.061 158.798
28 Canada Roman De Angelis
Denmark Marco Sorensen
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 46 1'17.088 9.747 0.009 158.780
29 Austria Klaus Bachler
France Patrick Pilet
GTD PRO Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 41 1'17.128 9.787 0.040 158.697
30 United States David Brule
United States Alec Udell
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 34 1'17.237 9.896 0.109 158.473
31 United States Bill Auberlen
United States Chandler Hull
GTD BMW M4 GT3 44 1'17.246 9.905 0.009 158.455
32 Sheena Monk
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
GTD Acura NSX GT3 47 1'17.413 10.072 0.167 158.113
33 Alan Metni
Netherlands Kay van Berlo
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 51 1'17.763 10.422 0.350 157.401
34 United States Mike Skeen
Canada Mikael Grenier
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 34 1'17.769 10.428 0.006 157.389
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