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WeatherTech Championship

Rast Leads Mazda 1-2 in Sebring Night Practice

Rene Rast leads Mazda Team Joest 1-2 in Thursday night practice at Sebring…

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Mazda Team Joest swept the top two spots in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship night practice for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with Rene Rast turning in the best time of the session.

Rast’s best lap of 1:48.233 in the No. 77 Mazda RT24-P was 0.457 seconds faster than Harry Tincknell’s best time in the sister No. 55 entry.

Felipe Nasr was third on the time sheets in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, followed by Olivier Pla in the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi and Colin Braun in the No. 54 CORE autosport Oreca 07 Gibson in fourth and fifth.

Filipe Albuquerque was sixth fastest in the No. 5 Cadillac for AXR, 0.922 seconds behind the class leader.

Dirk Mueller continued Ford Chip Ganassi Racing’s strong showing through practice by topping the GT Le Mans class in the No. 66 Ford GT. Alexander Sims was second fastest in the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTLM, while Laurens Vanthoor was third in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR.

Richard Westbrook was fourth in the No. 67 Ford and Alessandro Pier Guidi was fifth in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. The top five were covered by 0.737 seconds.

Turner Motorsport led the way in GT Daytona courtesy of a fast lap from Markus Palttala in the No. 96 BMW M6 GT3.

Daniel Serra and Sheldon van der Linde were close behind for Spirit of Race and Land Motorsport, a mere 0.082 and 0.095 seconds behind the class leader, respectively.

A red flag came out briefly with under five minutes remaining for the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Marcel Fassler which had come to a stop on track. The session resumed a few minutes later.

Up next for the WeatherTech Championship is the hour-long Practice 4 which is scheduled for 8 a.m. ET Friday morning.

RESULTS: Practice 3

Ryan Myrehn is an Indianapolis-based broadcaster and reporter. In addition to his work covering primarily domestic sports car racing for Sportscar365, he is the lead announcer for SRO America's TV coverage as well as a pit reporter for IndyCar Radio. Myrehn, a graduate of DePauw University, is also the host of Sportscar365's “Double Stint” Podcast.

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