Merrill Fastest in Opening Mid-Ohio Practice

Photo: Geoff Miller/IMSA

Thomas Merrill set the pace in the opening IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge practice session for this weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio.

The No. 14 Circle H Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo ended up quickest in Friday’s 60-minute session, thanks to Merrill’s benchmark 1:25.846 lap time.

It was 0.089 seconds quicker than the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Michael Cooper, with the No. 37 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Cameron Shields third on the time sheets.

Merrill is sharing the Mike Johnson-run GS class entry with David Hampton and Martin Sarukhanyan this weekend.

Jeff Westphal and Robby Foley completed the top-five for CarBahn and Turner Motorsport, respectively.

The No. 21 Victor Gonzalez Racing CUPRA Leon VZ TCR of Steven Clemons was quickest in TCR.

The session saw a single red flag, for the No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Sean Quinlan, who stopped on track in Turn 4.

As a result, the car’s fastest lap in qualifying will be disallowed due to bringing out a red in practice.

The No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Maddie Aust, meanwhile, pitted in the closing minutes of the session with a punctured tire, while Caio Chaves’ No. 54 Panam Motorsport Toyota ended the session off-course in in Turn 8.

The second practice session of the weekend is scheduled for Saturday at 10:45 a.m. EST followed by qualifying at 4:10 p.m. EST.

RESULTS: Practice 1

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