Dumas, CORE Top Friday at Watkins Glen

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Romain Dumas led the way on the opening day of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship track action at Watkins Glen, following a quick lap for the CORE autosport driver in Friday’s second practice session.

The Frenchman’s 1:33.481 in the No. 54 Oreca 07 Gibson bettered Dane Cameron’s 1:33.562 lap laid down in the morning and put a LMP2 car on top of the time sheets.

Dumas edged out the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Renger van der Zande by 0.276 seconds, with Cameron’s co-driver, Juan Pablo Montoya, ending up third in the second session in his No. 6 Team Penske Acura ARX-05.

The No. 32 United Autosports Ligier JS P217 Gibson of Bruno Senna was fourth quickest, followed by Ricky Taylor, who completed the top-five in the No. 7 Acura DPi.

The top-nine Prototypes were separated by less than one-second in the session, which ran without major incident.

Fords Remain on Top in GTLM

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing continued its dominance in GT Le Mans, with Richard Westbrook improving on his pace-setting time from the morning to again go quickest in class.

The Englishman’s 1:42.886 lap in the No. 67 Ford GT edged out the sister, Dirk Mueller-driven Ford in the session by 0.198 seconds.

The pair of CORE autosport-run Porsche 911 RSRs were third and fourth in class, followed by the two Corvette C7.Rs.

BMW Team RLL showed improved pace after the opening session but still made up the rear of the eight-car field.

Van der Linde Quickest in GTD

Sheldon van der Linde topped the time charts in Practice 2, although it was Jack Hawksworth’s 1:45.443 lap in the opening session that held as quickest of the day in GT Daytona.

The Silver-rated South African’s lap in the No. 29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS came shortly before the car stopped on track.

The No. 14 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Kyle Marcelli was second in the session, followed by the No. 51 Squadra Corse Garage Italia Ferrari 488 GT3 of Daniel Serra.

A final 60-minute practice session is on tap for Saturday at 8 a.m. EDT, followed by qualifying.

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