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Hand Fastest on Thursday for TUSC at COTA

Joey Hand fastest after two practice sessions at COTA…

Photo: IMSA

Photo: IMSA

Joey Hand topped the timesheets Thursday at Circuit of the Americas, following the second of two one-hour practice sessions ahead of the second-to-last TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race weekend of the season.

Hand, in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford, posted a best time of 1:57.639 around the 3.427-mile permanent road course.

Ozz Negri was second in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda at 1:58.388. Negri also led the morning session at a slower time of 2:00.205.

Colin Braun ended fastest in Prototype Challenge at 2:00.610 in the No. 54 CORE autosport Oreca FLM09. The time was just under three tenths quicker than Renger van der Zande, who led the morning session, at 2:00.914.

GT class leaders were Dirk Werner in the No. 25 BMW Z4 GTE at 2:04.256 in GT Le Mans, and Andy Lally in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America at 2:09.914 in GT Daytona.

In GTLM, BMW, Porsche and Corvette made it three different manufacturers in the top three positions.

Those times improved from the morning as well, with the morning leaders Earl Bamber in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR at 2:05.231 in GT Le Mans, and Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT3-R at 2:10.378 in GT Daytona.

There were two red flags in the first session and one in the second session, but no major incidents.

Third practice runs Friday morning from 9:10 to 10:10 a.m. CT and local time, which is the final practice before qualifying later Friday afternoon.

RESULTS: Practice 1
RESULTS: Practice 2

Tony DiZinno (@tonydizinno) is Sportscar365's North American Editor, focusing on coverage of the IMSA-sanctioned championships as well as Pirelli World Challenge. DiZinno also contributes to NBCSports.com and other motorsports outlets. Contact Tony

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