Westphal Paces Friday Practice in Monterey

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Jeff Westphal kept his and Tyler McQuarrie’s slim championship hopes alive by pacing Friday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge track action at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Westphal, in the No. 39 CarBahn by Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4, was quickest of the day following a session-topping 1:30.921 in Practice 2.

It was 0.141 seconds quicker than the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Jan Heylen, who paced opening practice with a marginally quicker time.

Dylan Murry put the No. 35 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 third on the combined time sheets on Friday, followed by GS points leaders KohR Motorsports, which can lock up the drivers’ title this weekend with Kyle Marcelli and Nate Stacy.

The No. 4 Winward Racing Mercedes of Nico Bastian completed the top-five on Friday.

While the opening 60-minute session ran without incident, an accident for the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 of Vinnie Barletta brought out a red flag in Practice 2.

The car, which won last time out at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, did not return to action.

A late flyer by Ryan Eversley put the No. 77 LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type-R TCR atop the time charts in TCR.

Eversley’s 1:33.823 was 0.257 seconds quicker than the No. 21 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Veloster N TCR of Mark Wilkins, who ended up second.

No changes have been made to the compensation weight in TCR this weekend, which sees both the Hyundai and Audi RS 3 LMS TCR with +50 kg each.

Qualifying is set for 9:20 a.m. PT with the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 getting the green flag at 3:35 p.m. with live coverage on Trackpass on NBC Sports Gold and IMSA Radio.

RESULTS: Practice (Combined)

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