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IMSA Watkins Glen: Cameron pips returnee Blomqvist after two red flags in FP1

Porsche’s Dane Cameron set the pace in opening practice for the sixth round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship at Watkins Glen, ahead of the returning Tom Blomqvist for Cadillac.

IMSA brings a 56-car field to the classic 3.4-mile road course, which hosted the United States Grand Prix for 20 years, set in the rolling hills near the Finger Lakes in upstate New York.

Cameron led the way in the 90-minute session in his factory-backed #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 with a lap of 1m34.175s, as dry conditions altered the run plans of the teams, many of which were expecting wet weather in each practice session this weekend.

After a brief red flag for the Tower Motorsports LMP2 Oreca crashing at Turn 1, which required some barrier repairs, recently jettisoned IndyCar racer Blomqvist jumped up to second in the Action Express-run #31 Cadillac V-Series.R, lapping 0.172s off Cameron’s pace.

Unlike the majority of the GTP teams, Blomqvist joins regular-season racers Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken in a three-driver lineup for the six-hour enduro.

“I missed it more than I thought I would,” Blomqvist told IMSA Radio. “Took me a few laps but then I got comfortable, I guess this is what I’m built for!

“Initially I wasn’t supposed to be here, but things happened on the other side [in IndyCar] and Pipo’s expecting another child, so in case it arrives then it’s better to have three drivers instead of one!”

A second red flag was required with 13 minutes remaining, again for the Tower LMP2, when Charlie Eastwood crashed it at Turn 7, this time deranging its left-front corner.

That only allowed for a four-minute sprint to the end of the session, but the hard compound Michelin tire in play this weekend meant there were no significant improvements.

Filipe Albuquerque was third fastest in his Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, ahead of Philipp Eng’s BMW M Hybrid V8 and Nick Tandy in the #6 PPM 963.

Mikkel Jensen led LMP2 with 1m35.531s in the TDS Racing Oreca that he will share with Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea. He was 0.046s quicker than Felipe Fraga’s Riley-run version, and set the fastest middle sector overall.

#77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R: Laurin Heinrich, Sebastian Priaulx (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

Laurin Heinrich set the pace in GTD Pro, lapping his AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3 R in 1m45.242s, a couple of tenths clear of the pro-am category leader Scott Andrews in Lone Star Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Spencer Pumpelly spun the Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage at Turn 7 and rejoined.

   
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3
   
Cla Drivers # Chassis Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United States D. Cameron Brazil F. Nasr Australia M. Campbell Porsche Penske Motorsport 7 Porsche 963 31

1'34.175

  129.971
2 Brazil P. Derani United Kingdom J. Aitken United Kingdom T. Blomqvist Whelen Cadillac Racing 31 Cadillac V-Series.R 35

+0.172

1'34.347

0.172 129.734
3 United States R. Taylor Portugal J. Barbosa New Zealand B. Hartley Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti 10 Acura ARX-06 32

+0.277

1'34.452

0.105 129.590
4 Finland J. Krohn Austria P. Eng Brazil A. Farfus BMW M Team RLL 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 33

+0.400

1'34.575

0.123 129.421
5 United Kingdom N. Tandy France M. Jaminet France F. Makowiecki Porsche Penske Motorsport 6 Porsche 963 33

+0.581

1'34.756

0.181 129.174
6 Netherlands R. van der Zande France S. Bourdais New Zealand S. Dixon Cadillac Racing 01 Cadillac V-Series.R 33

+0.694

1'34.869

0.113 129.020
7 Netherlands T. van der Helm United Kingdom R. Westbrook United Kingdom P. Hanson JDC/Miller Motorsports 85 Porsche 963 31

+0.870

1'35.045

0.176 128.781
8 Italy G. Bruni Belgium A. Picariello France J. Andlauer Proton Competition 5 Porsche 963 40

+1.076

1'35.251

0.206 128.503
9 Italy M. Cairoli Italy A. Caldarelli France R. Grosjean Lamborghini Iron Lynx 63 Lamborghini SC63 38

+1.172

1'35.347

0.096 128.373
10 United States C. de Phillippi United Kingdom N. Yelloly Belgium M. Martin BMW M Team RLL 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 35

+1.302

1'35.477

0.130 128.198
11 United States S. Thomas Denmark M. Jensen
H. McElrea TDS Racing
11 ORECA 07 41

+1.356

1'35.531

0.054 128.126
12 United States G. Robinson Brazil F. Fraga Australia J. Burdon Riley 74 ORECA 07 37

+1.402

1'35.577

0.046 128.064
13 United States J. Taylor Switzerland L. Deletraz United States C. Herta Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti 40 Acura ARX-06 24

+1.461

1'35.636

0.059 127.985
14 United States E. Lux Sweden R. Lindh
N. Varrone DragonSpeed
81 ORECA 07 34

+1.575

1'35.750

0.114 127.833
15 Canada J. Farano United States M. Dinan Ireland C. Eastwood Tower Motorsports 8 ORECA 07 29

+2.272

1'36.447

0.697 126.909
16 United States D. Merriman United Kingdom R. Dalziel
C. Zilisch Era Motorsport
18 ORECA 07 36

+2.315

1'36.490

0.043 126.853
17 D. Goldburg United Kingdom P. di Resta
B. Garg United Autosports USA
22 ORECA 07 37

+2.364

1'36.539

0.049 126.788
18 Poland J. Smiechowski United States N. Boulle France T. Dillmann Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports 52 ORECA 07 35

+2.417

1'36.592

0.053 126.719
19 United States B. Keating United Kingdom B. Hanley Chile N. Pino United Autosports USA 2 ORECA 07 35

+2.472

1'36.647

0.055 126.646
20 United States G. Kurtz United States C. Braun United Kingdom T. Sowery Crowdstrike Racing by APR 04 ORECA 07 40

+2.524

1'36.699

0.052 126.578
21 Denmark D. Andersen
S. Lucas
United States S. Huffaker MDK by High Class Racing
20 ORECA 07 40

+2.776

1'36.951

0.252 126.249
22 Argentina L. Perez Companc Denmark N. Nielsen France L. Wadoux Richard Mille AF Corse 88 ORECA 07 38

+2.919

1'37.094

0.143 126.063
23 United States P. Hyett France P. Chatin Australia M. Brabham AO Racing 99 ORECA 07 37

+3.142

1'37.317

0.223 125.775
24 Portugal J. Barbosa United Kingdom J. Edgar United States L. Willsey Sean Creech Motorsport 33 Ligier JS P217 37

+4.389

1'38.564

1.247 124.183
25 Germany L. Heinrich
S. Priaulx
Denmark M. Christensen AO Racing
77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 30

+11.067

1'45.242

6.678 116.303
26 Turkey S. Yoluc Portugal R. Andrade Australia S. Andrews Lone Star Racing 80 Mercedes AMG GT3 33

+11.227

1'45.402

0.160 116.127
27 United States B. Sellers United States M. Snow United States N. Verhagen Paul Miller Racing 1 BMW M4 GT3 22

+11.415

1'45.590

0.188 115.920
28 United Kingdom R. Gunn Spain A. Riberas Germany M. Farnbacher Heart Of Racing Team 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 24

+11.589

1'45.764

0.174 115.729
29 O. Triarsi
C. Scardina
Italy A. Rovera Triarsi Competizione
023 Ferrari 296 GT3 29

+11.687

1'45.862

0.098 115.622
30 France S. Mann France F. Heriau Spain M. Molina Af Corse 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 27

+11.824

1'45.999

0.137 115.473
31 Spain A. Garcia United Kingdom A. Sims Spain D. Juncadella Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R 32

+11.847

1'46.022

0.023 115.448
32 United States J. Potter United States A. Lally United States S. Pumpelly Magnus Racing 44 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 32

+11.869

1'46.044

0.022 115.424
33 United States R. Foley United States P. Gallagher
J. Walker Turner Motorsport
96 BMW M4 GT3 29

+12.019

1'46.194

0.150 115.261
34
M. Franco
A. Costa
Monaco C. Sbirrazzuoli Conquest Racing
34 Ferrari 296 GT3 34

+12.043

1'46.218

0.024 115.235
35 Canada M. Goikhberg Italy L. Spinelli Canada D. DeFrancesco Forte Racing 78 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 34

+12.124

1'46.299

0.081 115.147
36 Brazil D. Serra Italy D. Rigon United Kingdom J. Calado Risi Competizione 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 34

+12.242

1'46.417

0.118 115.019
37
F. Perera
South Africa J. Pepper Italy M. Bortolotti Iron Lynx
19 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 37

+12.283

1'46.458

0.041 114.975
38 United States B. Iribe Switzerland F. Schandorff United Kingdom O. Millroy Inception Racing 70 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO 30

+12.321

1'46.496

0.038 114.934
39 United Kingdom H. Tincknell Germany M. Rockenfeller Germany C. Mies Ford Multimatic Motorsports 64 Ford Mustang GT3 29

+12.333

1'46.508

0.012 114.921
40 United Kingdom J. Hawksworth United Kingdom B. Barnicoat United States K. Kirkwood Vasser Sullivan 14 Lexus RC F GT3 29

+12.453

1'46.628

0.120 114.792
41 Germany M. Kirchhofer United Kingdom O. Jarvis Canada J. Hinchcliffe Pfaff Motorsports 9 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO 36

+12.549

1'46.724

0.096 114.688
42 Italy R. Lacorte Italy G. Sernagiotto Italy A. Fuoco Cetilar Racing 47 Ferrari 296 GT3 17

+12.655

1'46.830

0.106 114.575
43 United States T. Milner Netherlands N. Catsburg New Zealand E. Bamber Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R 32

+12.658

1'46.833

0.003 114.571
44 United States R. Ward Switzerland P. Ellis Netherlands I. Dontje Winward Racing 57 Mercedes AMG GT3 31

+12.675

1'46.850

0.017 114.553
45
S. Monk
Colombia T. Calderon United Kingdom S. McAleer Gradient Racing
66 Acura NSX GT3 35

+12.684

1'46.859

0.009 114.543
46
G. Levorato
United States C. Lewis United States R. Hardwick Proton Competition
55 Ford Mustang GT3 34

+12.901

1'47.076

0.217 114.311
47 United States M. Skeen Canada M. Grenier United States K. Koch Korthoff/Preston Motorsports 32 Mercedes AMG GT3 32

+12.927

1'47.102

0.026 114.284
48
K. Li
Denmark A. Fjordbach Austria K. Bachler MDK Motorsports
86 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 34

+12.973

1'47.148

0.046 114.235
49 Canada O. Fidani United Kingdom M. Bell Germany L. Kern AWA 13 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD 29

+13.003

1'47.178

0.030 114.203
50 United States J. Hand Germany D. Muller Belgium F. Vervisch Ford Multimatic Motorsports 65 Ford Mustang GT3 26

+13.045

1'47.220

0.042 114.158
51 Switzerland R. Frey Denmark M. Gatting Belgium S. Bovy Iron Dames 83 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 34

+13.394

1'47.569

0.349 113.787
52 United States F. Montecalvo Canada P. Thompson United States A. Telitz Vasser Sullivan 12 Lexus RC F GT3 27

+13.423

1'47.598

0.029 113.757
53 Canada R. De Angelis Canada Z. Robichon United Kingdom I. James Heart Of Racing Team 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo 25

+13.519

1'47.694

0.096 113.655
54 Canada K. Marcelli Costa Rica D. Formal
G. Doyle Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti
45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 13

+13.652

1'47.827

0.133 113.515
55
A. Adelson
E. Skeer Belgium J. Heylen Wright Motorsports
120 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 35

+13.819

1'47.994

0.167 113.340
56 United States J. Andretti Colombia G. Chaves Canada S. Hargrove Andretti Motorsports 43 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 31

+14.296

1'48.471

0.477 112.841
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