VIR IMSA: BMW and Mercedes lead first practice
First practice for IMSA’s second GT-only round of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship saw the works BMW lead GTD Pro and Team Korthoff top GTD.
After 20 minutes, Connor De Phillippi held top spot in GTD Pro in the Rahal Letterman Lanigan-run BMW M4, with a 1min45.196sec effort around the 3.27-mile road course. This was almost 0.3sec ahead of Matt Campbell’s Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.
These two brands also occupied the first couple of slots in GTD, too, with Jan Heylen’s Wright Motorsports Porsche a mere 0.009sec ahead of Bryan Sellers in the Paul Miller Racing BMW. Behind them was Philip Ellis in the Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, followed by the two Lexus RC Fs run by Vasser Sullivan Racing – Jack Hawksworth 0.04sec ahead of Aaron Telitz.
With 20mins to go, Mike Skeen interrupted the BMW / Porsche domination at the top of the tables, slotting the Team Korthoff Mercedes into second overall, and top of the all-amateur ranks.
There were no late improvements from the front runners as rain arrived, thus Edwards, Jaminet and Hawksworth finished the session top three for BMW, Porsche and Lexus, respectively. Jordan Taylor in the Corvette C8.R was 0.7sec adrift of top spot, a few hundredths quicker than Ross Gunn in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage.
Skeen, Heylen, Sellers, Ellis and Telitz comprised the top five in GTD, with Jaden Conwright sixth in the NTE/SSR Lamborghini Huracan and Jules Gounon seventh in the WeatherTech Racing Mercedes.
The 90-minute second practice will begin at 10.40am local (Eastern) time on Saturday, with qualifying set for 3.15pm. The 2hr40min race will start at 2.10pm on Sunday.
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Top Comments
The long evolution of Dallara's Indy 500 winner
IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
O’Ward, Rossi impressed by McLaren’s “massive step forward”
Frustrated Hamilton had to "yank" the steering wheel in Baku comeback race
Piastri's brilliance is both saving and causing problems for McLaren
Seven things we learned at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Ferrari and Toyota concede WEC drivers' title to Porsche
How canny Porsche strategy snatched Daytona spoils from Cadillac
How a battle of two American titans will grip IMSA in 2024
How IMSA's GTP revival proved worthy of its name
How Porsche's Daytona hiccups evoked the premiere of its Group C king
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
