Bamber Quickest in Opening Practice at Belle Isle

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Earl Bamber led the way in opening IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Belle Isle.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver reeled off a best time of 1:20.178 lap time in the No. 02 Cadillac DPi-V.R to edge out the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 of Ricky Taylor by 0.146 seconds.

Bamber’s quick lap came in the closing moments of the 90-minute session following a late flyer from Taylor that briefly put the Acura DPi atop the time sheets.

Oliver Jarvis ended the session third in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura DPi, followed by the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Olivier Pla.

The No. 01 CGR Cadillac of Renger van der Zande completed the top-five, followed by Tristan Vautier’s No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac in sixth.

GTD was led by the No. 32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Mike Skeen, thanks to a 1:31.396 lap time.

The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Aaron Telitz and the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 driven by Aidan Read completed the top-three in class.

The only red flag came for a chunk of concrete that came loose in Turn 1.

The second and final practice session is set for 12:05 p.m. ET and will run for two hours.

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