Negri Quickest on Friday at Road America

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Ozz Negri ended the opening day of track action at Road America on top, after setting the pace in the second practice session for Sunday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase.

Negri took his No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda to a best lap of 1:55.747 around the four-mile circuit to edge out the No. 55 Mazda Prototype of Tristan Nunez by 0.118 seconds.

“We tried a couple of big changes,” Negri said. “I think the car is pretty good and has good potential. It’s only practice but it builds the confidence of the team and that’s what we need. I’m happy with the way it’s going.”

The No. 55 car of Jonathan Bomarito led a Mazda 1-2 in the opening 60-minute session earlier this afternoon, in what’s so far been a dominant effort from the turbocharged P2 cars.

Dane Cameron was third quickest in the second session, thanks to a 1:55.954 lap in his No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, ahead of the Jordan Taylor-driven No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry in fourth.

The No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP completed the top-five overall and in the Prototype class.

CORE autosport led the way in Prototype Challenge, with Colin Braun turning a 1:59.060 lap in the No. 54 Oreca FLM09.

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing continued to show the way in GT Le Mans. Joey Hand’s 2:03.415 lap in the No. 66 Ford GT was 0.512 seconds quicker than the No. 100 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM of Lucas Luhr.

Giancarlo Fisichella made it three different manufacturers in the top-three in class, in his No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.

Lamborghini, meanwhile, ended the day on top in GT Daytona, with Spencer Pumpelly quickest in the No. 16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, which edged out a late improvement by Mike Skeen in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Dodge Viper GT3-R in second.

No major incidents were reported in the session, which ran without any interruptions.

The third and final WeatherTech Championship practice session is set for Saturday at 9:25 a.m. local time, followed by qualifying in the afternoon.

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