Derani Pips De Phillippi to Go Fastest on Friday at Roar

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

A late flyer by Pipo Derani put the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R on top of the time sheets following the opening day of testing at the Roar Before the Rolex 24.

The Brazilian reeled off a best time of 1:35.217 in his Dallara-chassied GTP contender in the closing moments of the afternoon session to edge out the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Phillippi by 0.377 seconds.

De Phillippi laid down a best lap of 1:35.594 in his BMW M Team RLL entry in Friday’s second session, which eclipsed Nick Tandy’s 1:35.617 pace-setting time from the morning session.

Tandy’s co-driver Laurens Vanthoor ended up third in the final session of the day, thanks to a 1:35.721 lap time in the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963, followed by Filipe Albuquerque’s No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 in fourth.

Jesse Krohn made a late-session improvement to fifth in the No. 24 BMW.

LMP2 was led by Christian Rasmussen in the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 Gibson, who also was quickest of the day, thanks to a 1:39.674 lap time.

Rasmussen’s time was 0.253 seconds ahead of second-placed Nolan Siegel in the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P217 Gibson.

Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Christopher Mies was quickest among the GT contenders in his GTD Pro class Ford Mustang GT3 during the second session.

However, it was Katherine Legge that ended up as the pace-setting GT car from the day, thanks to her 1:46.289 time in the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.

Mies, meanwhile, reeled off a 1:46.494 lap time in the No. 64 Ford to edge out the GTD pace-setting No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jan Heylen, who slotted in second.

The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 was third quickest among the GT cars, second in GTD Pro.

There were no major incidents over the course of the session, which featured only a single brief red flag following a spin for Michael Dinan’s No. 8 Tower Motorsports Oreca in the Le Mans Chicane.

Saturday’s WeatherTech Championship sessions kick off with a 90-minute run beginning at 11:15 a.m. ET.

RESULTS: Session 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