Negri Paces Friday Practice at CTMP

Photo: DarrenPierson.com

Michael Shank Racing topped the time charts following the opening day of practice for Sunday’s Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The No. 60 Ligier JS P2 Honda of Ozz Negri led the way, thanks to the Brazilian’s 1:09.216 lap time set during the day’s second and final session of the day.

Negri edged out the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP of Ricky Taylor by 0.663 seconds. Both drivers were the only to brea the 1:10 barrier.

Taylor posted the quickest time in Friday morning’s session but managed to improve his quick time by more than a half-second.

The No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Dane Cameron ended the day third quickest, followed by Scott Pruett-driven Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford DP in fourth.

Times dropped significantly in the hotter and slick afternoon session in both Prototype and Prototype Challenge, the latter category led by CORE autosport’s Colin Braun.

Braun, who searches for his first class victory of the season, reeled off a 1:11.227 lap time in the closing minutes of the session, edging out the Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 of Conor Daly by 0.031 seconds.

The Detroit and Watkins Glen-winning Starworks Motorsport entry of Renger van der Zande was third.

While Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin led the way in the afternoon, it was Nick Tandy’s time set in the morning session that held as quickest of the day in the GT Le Mans class.

Tandy recorded a 1:15.388 lap in his No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR, outpacing the pair of Corvette C7.Rs, which were second and third on the time sheets.

It was a challenging day for the two BMW Z4 GTEs, which had separate incidents.

Lucas Luhr slammed his No. 24 BMW Team RLL entry into the wall in Turn 3 to bring out an early red flag in the opening session, while the No. 25 car of Dirk Werner brushed the wall in the afternoon.

The No. 24 BMW returned to action in the second session, posting the seventh quickest time in class.

An additional practice session is on tap for Saturday at 10 a.m., followed by qualifying in the afternoon.

RESULTS: Practice 1
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