Mid-Ohio IMSA: Derani leads first practice in AXR Cadillac

Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani left it late to top the opening IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship free practice at Mid-Ohio, ahead of the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Ricky Taylor.

Derani circulated in 1m11.846s on his final flying lap of the session, topping Taylor’s best time by 0.375s.

Dane Cameron had set the early pace for Meyer Shank Racing in its Acura around the 2.258-mile road course, working down to 1m12.501s. In the second half of the session, Felipe Nasr for Action Express Racing jumped up to P1 with a lap of 1m12.368s before Taylor lowered the benchmark further to 1m12.221s.

But then Derani went for another run in the closing minutes and secured the top spot with ease. Cameron ended the session in third, ahead of Renger van der Zande in the Chip Ganassi Racing Caddy and Tristan Vautier in the JDC-Miller MotorSports version.

The lone Mazda only went out late in the session, with Oliver Jarvis lapping at 1m13.312s, over a second off the pace.

In GT Daytona, Jack Hawksworth set the pace for the Vasser Sullivan Lexus team with a lap of 1m20.513s, almost three tenths clear of the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 of Bill Auberlen.

Patrick Long was third quickest in the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911, fractions of a second ahead of Laurens Vanthoor in Pfaff Motorsports’ version.

In LMP3, Colin Braun led the way at 1m17.752s for CORE Autosport, a tenth ahead of Andretti Autosport’s Oliver Askew. Braun was also 0.26s ahead of Felipe Fraga’s Riley Motorsports entry and Dylan Murry in the second Riley car.

Jarett Andretti caused a red flag early on after leaving the pits too soon in the car he shares with Askew, then stopping out on track.

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Delay	Laps
1	31	Felipe Nasr Pipo Derani	Cadillac	1'11.846		32
2	10	Ricky Taylor F.Albuquerque	Acura	1'12.221	0.375	33
3	60	Dane Cameron Olivier Pla	Acura	1'12.501	0.655	26
4	01	R.van der Zande Kevin Magnussen	Cadillac	1'12.529	0.683	33
5	5	Tristan Vautier Loïc Duval	Cadillac	1'12.718	0.872	37
6	55	Oliver Jarvis Harry Tincknell	Mazda	1'12.909	1.063	20
7	54	Jon Bennett Colin Braun	Ligier/Nissan	1'17.240	5.394	32
8	36	Jarett Andretti Oliver Askew	Ligier/Nissan	1'17.340	5.494	27
9	74	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga	Ligier/Nissan	1'17.500	5.654	34
10	91	Jim Cox Dylan Murry	Ligier/Nissan	1'17.656	5.810	27
11	33	Lance Willsey João Barbosa	Ligier/Nissan	1'17.768	5.922	26
12	38	Rasmus Lindh Daniel Goldburg	Ligier/Nissan	1'18.004	6.158	25
13	14	Aaron Telitz Jack Hawksworth	Lexus	1'20.513	8.667	30
14	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley	BMW	1'20.804	8.958	30
15	16	Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long	Porsche	1'20.931	9.085	33
16	9	Z.Robichon Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche	1'20.944	9.098	30
17	01	R.van der Zande Kevin Magnussen	Cadillac	1'20.998	9.152	17
18	12	F.Montecalvo Zach Veach	Lexus	1'21.232	9.386	31
19	44	John Potter Andy Lally	Acura	1'21.234	9.388	31
20	28	Daniel Morad M.De Quesada	Mercedes	1'21.681	9.835	21
21	66	T.Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller	Acura	1'21.698	9.852	32
22	39	Richard Heistand Jeff Westphal	Audi	1'21.756	9.910	31
23	88	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge	Porsche	1'21.794	9.948	30
24	23	Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn	Aston Martin	1'21.799	9.953	33
25	76	Jeffrey Kingsley Mario Farnbacher	Acura	1'21.806	9.960	31