Porto Quickest in Opening Road America Practice

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Kiko Porto laid down the fastest lap in the opening practice for Round 7 of IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Road America but his teammate Varun Choksey incurred a penalty which will see their No. 12 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 lose its fastest qualifying lap later in the weekend.

Porto set a 2:15.788 lap in the No. 12 Toyota, 0.033 seconds faster than Gregory Liefooghe in the No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4.

The session was interrupted at the half way mark by a red flag for debris on track.

The No. 66 Car Blanche Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo of Trenton Estep stopped on track during the red flag but later rejoined the 60-minute session after the incident, eventually claiming the third fastest time.

It was Choksey’s RAFA Toyota that was handed a penalty for causing the red flag, meaning the team’s qualifying result will be decided by its second fastest lap during the 35-minute session on Friday.

Michael Cooper set the fourth fastest time in the No. 44 McLaren Artura GT4, with the No. 23 Koch-Copeland Motorsports Toyota rounding out the top-five in the GS class.

A flurry of drive-through penalties were handed out by race control, seven of which were for speeding in the pit lane.

The fastest lap in TCR went to Celso Neto in the No. 55 Gou Racing with Stallion Audi RS 3 LMS TCR with a time of 2:18.500.

Practice 2 will signal the start of on-track action for Friday, with a one-hour session scheduled for 8:20 a.m. CST ahead of Qualifying later in the day at 2:55 p.m.

The Road America 120 kicks off at 1:55 a.m. CST on Saturday.

Results: Practice 1 

Finlay Ringer

Finlay Ringer is a freelance motorsport journalist covering the 24H Series for Sportscar365. He is also a journalism student at City St George's, University of London, and has contributed to publications such as The Race and Autocar.