Late Charge From Liddell Tops Practice 1 at The Glen

A late improvement from Robin Liddell saw the Rebel Rock Racing driver jump to the top of the time sheets in the first IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge practice session of the weekend at Watkins Glen International.

Jan Heylen led the vast majority of the hour-long session in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport he shares with Luca Mars before Liddell laid down a 1:55.669 lap in his No. 71 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo on his final attempt to outpace Heylen by 0.146 seconds.

Liddell had climbed back aboard the No. 71 machine later in the session after the No. 2 CSM Porsche brought out a red flag with just over 15 minutes remaining in the session when it stopped partially on track at Turn 4.

Running resumed with ten minutes left in the hour-long practice session to see Panam Motorsports’ Caio Chaves improve to lock in the third-best GS class time in the No. 54 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 he shares with Werner Neugebauer.

Matt Plumb went fourth-fastest overall in his Team TGM Aston Martin ahead of the No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Jeff Westphal.

Seventh fastest overall and quickest of the TCR competitors was MMG’s Karl Wittmer, whose 1:56.334 benchmark time in the No. 93 Honda Civic FL5 TCR proved comfortably faster than the rest of the field, with Tim Lewis finishing second-fastest for KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering.

Mark Wilkins set the third-best TCR time in the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR he shares with Taylor Hagler this weekend.

During the session, an on-track incident involving the No. 15 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin and the No. 67 CSM Porsche Cayman was investigated by race stewards, who determined no action was necessary.

Practice 2 is slated for Friday morning at 11:05 a.m. EST ahead of separate qualifying sessions for each class that afternoon at 4:10 p.m. EST.

RESULTS: Practice 1