Road America IMSA: Taylor tops first practice in WTR Acura
Ricky Taylor was fastest driver in the 90min IMSA opening practice at Road America while Lamborghinis went 1-2 in the GTD class.
Cadillac DPi-V.Rs dominated the early running in first practice for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s penultimate round of the 2022 season for the Prototype class.
Earl Bamber in the #02 Chip Ganassi Racing entry was the first driver into the 1min50s, clocking a 1min50.835sec ahead of Pipo Derani in the Action Express Racing car, and then Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Ganassi machine.
With 50 of the 90min session remaining, Tom Blomqvist interrupted this Cadillac 1-2-3 by slotting the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 into third, 0.22sec off top time before pitting.
An alarming off for High Class Racing’s Dennis Andersen saw the LMP2 Oreca flying off the track at Turn 11, requiring at least a new nose. That off brought out a red flag, but the flying of the green with 27mins remaining saw all DPi cars heading back out.
Seven minutes later, Ricky Taylor was into his stride – and found a relatively clear lap – to send the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura into second, 0.177sec behind Bamber’s benchmark and then moved convincingly to the top with a 1min50.539sec – almost three-tenths quicker than the nearest opposition.
His time wouldn’t be eclipsed, so Bamber/Alex Lynn and Derani/Olivier Pla stayed second and third, ahead of the Meyer Shank Acura, the #01 Cadillac of Bourdais/Renger van der Zande. Tristan Vautier set the JDC Miller MotorSports Cadillac’s fastest time but was almost 1.5sec slower than Taylor.
In GTD Pro, the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F held fastest time with Ben Barnicoat at the wheel, a 2min06.971sec, but in teammate Jack Hawksworth’s hands the car ground to a halt on track at Turn 12 and needed rescuing with 40mins remaining.
Closest at that stage was Matt Campbell in the Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3 R, 0.15sec behind, just ahead of the leader in GTD’s pro-am class, local hero Aaron Telitz in the second Lexus that he shares with Frankie Montecalvo.
With 17mins to go, Robby Foley then outpaced all the GTD Pro and GTD runners in Turner Motorsports’ BMW M4 with a 2min06.920sec, with fastest times in Sector 2 – which is 73sec long at GTD pace – and Sector 3.
Montecalvo wasn’t going to take that laying down, and sure enough he took top spot by over quarter of a second from Foley.
But he stayed at the top for barely a minute before Jaden Conwright’s NTE/SSR Lamborghini Huracan moved to P1, and then the similar Lambo of Carbahn Peregrine Racing driven by Robert Megennis shaded Conwright by a mere 0.071sec.
Connor De Phillippi in the works BMW M4 eventually shaded Foley’s best effort by 0.28sec to go fastest of the GTD Pro runners, while Antonio Garcia in the Corvette C8.R moved into third in class, behind Barnicoat’s earlier top time, and ahead of the Pfaff Porsche.
In LMP2, Ryan Dalziel was fastest for Era Motorsport ahead of Tristan Nunez, who has returned to PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport to replace Jonathan Bomarito in the #11 car.
Juan Pablo Montoya was third fastest for DragonSpeed ahead of Louis Deletraz in the Tower Motorsports car and the second PR1 Mathiasen entry of Josh Pierson.
Malthe Jakobsen’s Sean Creech Motorsport car topped LMP3 despite a couple of incidents, three tenths quicker than Riley Motorsports’ Felipe Fraga and Scott Andrews in the JDC Miller Motorsports machine.
Second practice begins at 3.15pm local (Central) time.
Full practice times to follow…
| Cla | Driver | Class | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ricky Taylor  Filipe Albuquerque | DPi | Acura DPi | 29 | 1'50.539 | |
| 2 |  Earl Bamber  Alex Lynn | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 29 | 1'50.835 | 0.296 |
| 3 |  Olivier Pla  Pipo Derani | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 35 | 1'51.051 | 0.512 |
| 4 | Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist | DPi | Acura DPi | 28 | 1'51.055 | 0.516 |
| 5 |  Renger van der Zande Sébastien Bourdais | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 18 | 1'51.095 | 0.556 |
| 6 | Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 31 | 1'52.000 | 1.461 |
| 7 | Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 31 | 1'52.147 | 1.608 |
| 8 | Steven Thomas Tristan Nunez | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 33 | 1'52.879 | 2.340 |
| 9 |  Henrik Hedman  Juan Pablo Montoya | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 34 | 1'53.144 | 2.605 |
| 10 |  John Farano  Louis Deletraz | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 33 | 1'53.161 | 2.622 |
| 11 | Patrick Kelly Josh Pierson | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 29 | 1'53.993 | 3.454 |
| 12 |  Dennis Andersen Fabio Scherer | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 33 | 1'54.780 | 4.241 |
| 13 | Joao Barbosa Malthe Jakobsen | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 20 | 2'00.439 | 9.900 |
| 14 | Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 27 | 2'00.736 | 10.197 |
| 15 | Gerry Kraut  Scott Andrews | LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 28 | 2'00.877 | 10.338 |
| 16 | Dakota Dickerson Josh Sarchet | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 25 | 2'01.307 | 10.768 |
| 17 | Jon Bennett Colin Braun | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 23 | 2'01.353 | 10.814 |
| 18 | Ari Balogh Garett Grist | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 27 | 2'01.649 | 11.110 |
| 19 | Jarett Andretti Gabby Chaves | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 27 | 2'02.369 | 11.830 |
| 20 | Orey Fidani Matthew Bell | LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 28 | 2'02.607 | 12.068 |
| 21 | James French Cameron Shields | LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 10 | 2'02.962 | 12.423 |
| 22 | Robert Megennis Jeff Westphal | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 27 | 2'06.366 | 15.827 |
| 23 | Jaden Conwright Marco Holzer | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 28 | 2'06.437 | 15.898 |
| 24 | Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 28 | 2'06.509 | 15.970 |
| 25 | Connor de Phillippi John Edwards | GTD PRO | BMW M4 GT3 | 23 | 2'06.637 | 16.098 |
| 26 | Robby Foley Bill Auberlen | GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 30 | 2'06.920 | 16.381 |
| 27 | Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat | GTD PRO | Lexus RC F GT3 | 15 | 2'06.971 | 16.432 |
| 28 |  Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor | GTD PRO | Corvette C8.R GTD | 30 | 2'07.019 | 16.480 |
| 29 | Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet | GTD PRO | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 25 | 2'07.121 | 16.582 |
| 30 | Russell Ward Philip Ellis | GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 32 | 2'07.475 | 16.936 |
| 31 | Ryan Eversley Aidan Read | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 29 | 2'07.495 | 16.956 |
| 32 | Ryan Hardwick  Jan Heylen | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 31 | 2'07.720 | 17.181 |
| 33 | Cooper MacNeil Daniel Juncadella | GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 30 | 2'07.865 | 17.326 |
| 34 | Ross Gunn Alex Riberas | GTD PRO | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 24 | 2'08.071 | 17.532 |
| 35 | Mike Skeen Stevan McAleer | GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 26 | 2'08.350 | 17.811 |
| View full results | ||||||
Bourdais says 2023 Cadillac LMDh “already in the window”
Road America IMSA: Ganassi Cadillac 1-2 in second practice
Road America IMSA: Albuquerque/Taylor win, title rival Jarvis crashes
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor won Sunday’s rain-impacted IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America, as title rival Oliver Jarvis crashed his similar Acura in the closing laps of the race and lost the points lead.
Road America IMSA: Albuquerque on pole for Acura, Bourdais crashes hard
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque took pole position for Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America for Acura in a red-flagged qualifying, while Lexus took GTD pole thanks to Jack Hawksworth.
IMSA reveals 2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule
IMSA has revealed an 11-race schedule for 2023, and while Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course has been confirmed as the penultimate race of the season, Mid-Ohio and Detroit have lost their dates.
Road America IMSA: Ganassi Cadillac 1-2 in second practice
Alex Lynn and Sebastien Bourdais sent Chip Ganassi Racing’s Cadillac DPi V-Rs to the top of the times in Practice 2 for Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America.
The British pair at the heart of Lexus's sportscar push
Have you heard the one about two British guys driving for a Japanese manufacturer in America’s top sportscar series? Time to sit down and talk with Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat about racing across the pond… and your accent being mistaken for Australian!
Why Peugeot couldn't afford to take a Le Mans gamble in 2022
Ahead of the much-anticipated arrival of its new 9X8 Hypercar, Peugeot revealed that it would not be entering this year's Le Mans 24 Hours with its incoming machinery. Although development restrictions for homologated cars are partially responsible, the French marque can draw on its own lessons from its history in sportscars
Why the GTP name undermines convergence between IMSA and WEC
OPINION: The adoption by IMSA of the GTP name for its forthcoming LMDh versus Le Mans Hypercar era in 2023 appeals to fans of nostalgia - but it undermines the commonality achieved by bringing its rulebook into line with the WEC. GTP or Hypercar, both sides should settle on a single name
Celebrating the weird and wonderful monsters of sportscar racing
Few disciplines of motorsport offer better possibilities to build a colossus of the track than sportscars. For Autosport's recent Monsters of Motorsport special issue, we picked out some of the finest (and not so fine) that have graced sportscar classics including Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring
How Castroneves and Meyer Shank conquered another US classic
Helio Castroneves continued his fine start to life with Meyer Shank Racing that netted the 2021 Indianapolis 500 victory by prevailing in last weekend's Daytona 24 Hours together with teammates Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Simon Pagenaud. As Cadillac fell by the wayside, the Brazilian veteran won out in an all-Acura duel to the finish
How Derani's long road to title success exorcised painful memories
It took Pipo Derani no time at all to establish himself as a winner in IMSA, winning the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours on his first two starts in 2016. But it took until the final corner of the 2021 season before he could become its champion, the culmination of a journey that he believes has made him a better driver.
The significance of the next step in WEC/IMSA convergence
Following the latest convergence connection permitting Le Mans Hypercars from the FIA World Endurance Championship to compete against LMDh entries in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from 2023, it could open up enticing options not only to manufacturers but also for the calendar and race formats
Why a Mazda IMSA Prototype title would bring bitter joy
Can Mazda win this year’s IMSA Prototype championship? Undoubtedly. But it will be the culmination of an achingly hard struggle, after which the brand has decided to quit. David Malsher-Lopez tells the story of a bizarre blend of heartache and positivity.