Montoya Paces Opening Practice at Mid-Ohio

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Juan Pablo Montoya led the way in opening practice for this weekend’s Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio.

The Colombian in the No. 6 Team Penske Acura ARX-05 set a best lap of 1:13.057 in Friday evening’s session, edging out the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Pipo Derani by 0.236 seconds.

Montoya’s time came in the final seconds of the 60-minute session, which ran without any major incident.

Derani, who was atop the time sheets for the majority of the session, was just 0.009 seconds ahead of Ricky Taylor in the No. 7 Penske Acura DPi in third. 

The pair of Multimatic-run Mazda RT24-Ps completed the top-five, led by Tristan Nunez in the No. 77 entry.

Corvette Racing ended the session 1-2 in the GT Le Mans class, with Antonio Garcia out front.

The Spaniard’s 1:19.960 in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R was 0.301 seconds quicker than teammate Tommy Milner in the No. 4 entry.

The pair of Team RLL-run BWW M8 GTEs brought up the rear of the four-car class this weekend due to the withdrawal of the factory Porsche 911 RSR-19s on Le Mans-related COVID-19 precautions.

GT Daytona was paced by the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen

Auberlen outpaced the No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth by 0.056 seconds, with the 57 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Alvaro Parente completing the top-three in class.

Twenty-three of the 24 entries turned laps in the session, with the No. 30 Team Hardpoint Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo the only car not to set a time due to a technical issue discovered before the serssion.

Practice 2 is set to get underway on Saturday at 10:55 a.m. EDT., in the only session of the day for WeatherTech Championship competitors.

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