Derani Quickest on Friday at Road America

Photo: Michelle Wellman/IMSA

Pipo Derani led the way in the second and final practice session for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors at Road America, in another red flag-marred session on the newly resurfaced four-mile circuit.

The Brazilian in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R reeled off a quick time of 1:47.986 on his final lap of the session to edge out Cadillac teammate Sebastien Bourdais by 0.201 seconds.

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor was third quickest, followed by the pair of Team RLL-run BMW M Hybrid V8s, which completed the top-five in the hands of Connor De Phillippi and Philipp Eng.

As was the case earlier today, Practice 2 saw multiple red flags for accidents, including crashes by Steven Thomas, Alan Brynjolfsson and Mike Skeen.

Thomas lost control of his No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 Gibson at the Carousel, in a near mirror-image accident to his teammate Giedo van der Garde from the morning.

It was followed by a second red for the No. 77 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Brynjolfsson, who spun at the Kink but got back going, prior to a heavy accident in the same corner by Skeen in the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

LMP2 was paced by the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca of Ryan Dalziel, while Garett Grist continued his stranglehold of the LMP3 class in the No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

Jordan Taylor topped the time charts in GTD Pro in his No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD, thanks to a 2:03.712 lap time in the final moments of the session.

It was 0.471 seconds quicker than second-placed Dani Juncadella in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes.

Mikael Grenier was credited with the fastest lap in GTD, which came prior to co-driver Skeen’s session-ending crash in the No. 32 Mercedes.

Grenier was nearly three-tenths clear of the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Madison Snow.

Next up for the WeatherTech Championship is qualifying, which is scheduled to get underway Saturday at 1:15 p.m. CDT.

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