Garcia’s Corvette fast at hot Lime Rock

Images by Richard Dole/LAT


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By: J.J. O'Malley | 4 hours ago


With temperatures expected to approach triple digits for Saturday’s two-hour, 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM/GTD event, many of the teams approached Friday afternoon’s second one-hour practice session using used Michelins to prepare for the race conditions.

Antonio Garcia led the session, running 50.302s in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R, shy of Nick Tandy’s best lap of the morning session of 50.065s in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR.

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BMW took the next two positions — in addition to leading GTD. Connor De Phillippi ran 50.320s in the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M8 GTLM, 0.165s faster than Jesse Krohn in the No. 24.

Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs took the next two places, with Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 followed by Joey Hand in the No. 66.

In GTD, Bill Auberlen had the best lap of the day, 51.715s in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3, eclipsing Mario Farnbacher’s best lap of 51.813s in the morning session.

While the on-track session ran incident free, Scuderia Corsa had a scare in the pits. Toni Vilander left his pit box without the right-rear tire secured to the No. 63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3. The car skidded to a stop in the Porsche GT Team pits. The Ferrari team quickly brought over a tire, which was bolted to the car with the help of the Porsche crew. Vilander then made a slow lap around the 1.474-mile circuit before returning to the Scuderia Corsa pit, and was eventually able to return to the session — turning his final lap in 51.808s, second best of the afternoon.

RESULTS

UP NEXT: Practice 3, a one-hour session for the GTLM/GTD classes, runs from 4:55-5:55 p.m. ET.

Saturday begins with a 20-minute warm-up at 9:05 a.m., immediately followed by qualifying for GTD (9:35 a.m.) and GTLM (10 a.m.). The two-hour, 40-minute race starts at 2:40 p.m. A delayed same-day broadcast on NBCSN begins at 9:30 p.m. ET.


Antonio Garcia, Bill Auberlen, Corvette, Lime Rock, IMSA, WeatherTech Sportscar Championship