Krohn Quickest in Opening Practice at Charlotte Roval

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Jesse Krohn led the way in opening practice for Saturday’s Motul 100% Synthetic Grand Prix at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, in a mixed-condition night session.

Krohn reeled off a quick lap of 1:15.482 in his No. 24 Team RLL BMW M8 GTE to go fastest, following a short burst of light rain around the 2.28-mile, 17-turn circuit.

His time was 0.069 seconds quicker than the sister No. 25 BMW of Bruno Spengler.

Both of the BMWs made late improvements after Tommy Milner had topped the time charts for the majority of the session.

The No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R ultimately dropped to fourth, thanks to an improvement by Nick Tandy in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 on his final flying lap. 

Antonio Garcia completed the top-five in the No. 3 Corvette, with Fred Makowiecki bringing up the rear in the six-car GT Le Mans field.

Mario Farnbacher went quickest for Meyer Shank Racing and Acura in the GT Daytona class, meanwhile.

Farnbacher’s 1:17.682 lap time in the No. 86 Acura NSX GT3 Evo was 0.046 seconds faster than the No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth.

The scheduled 60-minute session was halted for nearly 15 minutes due to an accident by Michael De Quesada in the No. 12 AVS Lexus in Turn 8.

The car was taken away on a rollback tow-truck with right-front damage reported.

IMSA officials elected to add an additional ten minutes to the clock as a result of the stoppage.

A second practice session is on tap for Saturday at 9:45 a.m. EDT, followed by qualifying at 2 p.m. and the 100-minute GT-only race at 8 p.m.

RESULTS: Practice 1

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