Penske Acura Locks Out Friday Times at Road America

Acura Team Penske continued to set the pace at Road America by leading the second of Friday’s two practice sessions for the IMSA Road Race Showcase.

The pair of Acura ARX-05s sat first and second in the timing sheets at the end of the afternoon run, with Juan Pablo Montoya leading from Ricky Taylor.

Montoya’s session-leading time of 1:50.256 fell two-tenths short of being the fastest lap of the day, which was set by his co-driver Dane Cameron in Practice 1, but it was nonetheless enough to beat Taylor by 0.028 seconds.

Mazda Team Joest improved on its morning numbers to end up third and fourth with Oliver Jarvis lapping ahead of fellow Englishman Harry Tincknell.

Jarvis came up with a 1:50.531 to get within three-tenths of Montoya’s pace, while Tincknell was half a second off the leading effort.

After splitting the Acuras in Practice 1, the Nissan DPi of CORE autosport managed a 1:50.971 in the hands of Colin Braun to end up fifth in the standings.

This meant the five-car Cadillac DPi-V.R. contingent filled out positions six to 10, with Pipo Derani leading the block in the title-contending No. 31 Action Express machine.

The Brazilian’s time of 1:51.285 was just over a second slower than the fastest lap of the session.

In GT Le Mans, Earl Bamber shot to the top of the pile at the last opportunity to put Porsche’s factory North American team out front in both Friday sessions.

The New Zealander displaced erstwhile leader Ryan Briscoe of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing with a time 2:02.489, although this wasn’t quite enough to beat Nick Tandy’s precedent from Practice 1.

Up until the very end, the Ford GTs had been running 1-2 in class having spent the opening session of the day at the foot of the order.

Briscoe settled for second-quickest ahead of teammate Dirk Mueller, while Jan Magnussen put Corvette Racing fourth ahead of Tandy in the second Porsche 911 RSR.

Six different manufacturers made it into the GT Daytona top six, which was paced by the No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth.

A time of 2:05.162 set Hawksworth almost half a second clear of Corey Lewis in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, while Ben Keating slotted into third in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Matt McMurry shaved over a second off the quickest LMP2 time of the day to lead Practice 2 in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson.

A third practice session is set to take place on Saturday morning at 8:55 a.m. local time (9:55 a.m. eastern), in advance of qualifying in the afternoon.

RESULTS: Practice 2