Brundle Takes Ligier to Top in COTA TUSC Practice 2

Alex Brundle showcased the speed of the new No. 42 OAK Racing Ligier JS P2 HPD during the second one-hour practice session for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’ Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas.

Brundle set the first sub-2-minute lap on the TUDOR Championship timesheets over the weekend at 1:58.292, a full 1.7 seconds clear of the rest of the field. He shares the car with Gustavo Yacaman.

Joao Barbosa was second in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP at 2:00.031, which was also faster than Thursday’s best time set by Richard Westbrook (2:00.306).

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP was third, also in the 2-minute segment, with the No. 2 Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX-03b and No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP rounding out the top five.

The No. 90 Corvette suffered minor front end damage during the session.

Renger van der Zande paced the Prototype Challenge category for Starworks Motorsport, with a best time of 2:02.770 in the No. 8 Oreca FLM09. The PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and pair of RSR Racing entries were next.

Porsche continued at the head of GT Le Mans, with the third factory entry, the No. 910 Porsche 911 RSR driven by Patrick Pilet and Fred Makowiecki, fastest for the second straight session at a 2:05.116.

Makowiecki’s Friday morning best time was three tenths off the Thursday time of 2:04.844.

The No. 911 Porsche was second with the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia third, the No. 912 Porsche fourth and the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R in fifth. The lead BMW Team RLL entry, the No. 56 BMW Z4 GTE, was sixth and the last car within a second (0.918 off the No. 910 Porsche).

In GT Daytona, Norbert Siedler led the charts in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America at 2:10.338. That time was about half a second off James Davison’s 2:09.815 set Thursday in the No. 007 TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage.

Championship rivals Leh Keen (No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America) and Townsend Bell (No. 555 AIM Autosport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) were second and third.

The session again ran without any red flags, as did Thursday’s, with times dropping as the track dried out following morning rain. By the end of the session, the track conditions were at their best.

The third practice runs from 3:20 to 4:20 p.m. CT and local time, and leads straight into qualifying.

RESULTS: Practice 2