Westbrook Goes Quickest for Cadillac in Practice 2

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Richard Westbrook put Cadillac atop the time charts for the first time in the GTP era, with the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh quickest in Thursday’s second practice for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The Englishman reeled off a best lap of 1:35.185 to edge out the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 of Louis Deletraz, who made a late improvement to second.

Westbrook’s pace-setting time was two-tenths quicker than Filipe Albuquerque’s benchmark time set in opening session of the day.

Renger van der Zande was third on the time charts in the sister No. 01 CGR Cadillac, followed by the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani in fourth.

The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr completed the top-five, followed by the sister Porsche driven by Mathieu Jaminet in sixth.

As was the case in the morning, the afternoon session was filled with red flags, including three for LMP3 cars alone.

The No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Duqueine D08 Nissan of Till Bechtolsheimer stopped on track in the infield to bring out the first red, followed by a heavy impact for Francesco Pizzi in the No. 55 Proton Competition Oreca 07 Gibson LMP2 car exiting the Le Mans Chicane.

Orey Fidani’s No. 13 AWA Duqueine stopped near pit-in to bring out a red, just as the Canadian got back going again, while the fourth red was for a mechanical issue for the No. 36 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Nolan Siegel.

The No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Mikael Grenier led the way in the production-based ranks, ahead of the GTD Pro pace-setting No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes driven by Jules Gounon.

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports (Nico Lapierre) and Riley (Felipe Fraga) led the way in LMP2 and LMP3, respectively.

Sixty of the 61 cars turned laps, with the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes the only no-show following Lucas Auer’s accident in opening practice.

IMSA nor the team have yet to communicate a medical update on the Austrian driver, who was cut out of the GTD pole-siting car and transported to the hospital.

The third and final practice session of the day is set to begin at 7:15 p.m. and will run until 9 p.m.

RESULTS: Practice 2

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John