Ford CGR Goes 1-2 in Practice 1 at Lime Rock

Dirk Mueller led a Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 in the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice of the weekend at Lime Rock Park.

The German turned in a lap of 51.077 seconds in the No. 66 Ford GT, 0.191 seconds faster than Ryan Briscoe in the sister No. 67 entry.

Laurens Vanthoor was an impressive third in his track debut behind the wheel of the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR, with the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R of Antonio Garcia and the No. 911 Porsche of Dirk Werner completing the top five.

Seven of the eight GT Le Mans entries were covered by just .0698 seconds around the tight, twisty Lime Rock circuit.

Joerg Bermeister and Park Place Motorsports topped the GT Daytona time sheets, turning in the fastest lap of 53.818 on his 11th tour of the circuit in the No. 73 Porsche 911 GT3.

Andy Lally continued Michael Shank Racing’s strong run of form in recent races by posting the session’s second-fastest time in the No. 93 Acura NSX GT3, while Daniel Morad completed the top three in the No. 28 Alegra Motorsports machine.

Colin Braun made it three Porches in the top four positions with a solid outing for CORE autosport, and Jeroen Bleekemolen put the Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 in fifth in the GTD class.

The hour-long practice session ran without major incident.

It’s a quick turn around for the WeatherTech Championship teams and drivers, with Practice 2 set to take place at 2:25 p.m. ET and qualifying for Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix set for 5:15 p.m. ET.

RESULTS: Practice 1