Castroneves Tops Saturday Practice at Mid-Ohio

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Helio Castroneves led the way in Saturday’s one-and-only practice session for the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio.

The Brazilian reeled off a 1:11.395 late in the session to put the No. 7 Team Penske Acura ARX-05 on top in the second practice session of the weekend.

Castroneves ended up 0.192 seconds quicker than the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Renger van der Zande in second.

The No. 6 Penske Acura DPi of Dane Cameron was third quickest, ahead of the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi of Pipo Derani in fourth.

Jonathan Bomarito completed the top-five in the No. 55 Multimatic-run Mazda RT24-P.

Corvette Racing were 1-2 in GT Le Mans, thanks to a 1:18.668 lap time by the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Jordan Taylor.

Taylor was 0.260 seconds quicker than the sister No. 4 entry of Oliver Gavin in second.

The two Team RLL-run BMW M8 GTEs again brought up the rear of the class, despite a late-session improvement by Jesse Krohn in the No. 24 entry.

GT Daytona was led by the pair of AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3s, with Aaron Telitz quickest in class.

The Silver-rated driver recorded a best lap of 1:20.465, edging out teammate Frankie Montecalvo by 0.289 seconds.

Matt McMurry was third quickest in the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo followed by the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 in fourth.

The No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R completed the top-five in class.

All 24 cars set times in the session, with the No. 30 Team Hardpoint Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo getting its first laps of the weekend after electrical issues on Friday.

Qualifying is set to get underway on Sunday at 8 a.m. EDT followed by the race at 2 p.m., live on Trackpass on NBC Sports Gold and IMSA Radio.

RESULTS: Practice 2

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