Sims Crashes in Warmup; Van der Zande Quickest

Renger van der Zande set the pace in morning warmup for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America, while pole-sitters Action Express Racing ran into trouble after a crash for Alexander Sims.

Van der Zande steered the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R to a best lap of 1:51.748, outpacing the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor by 0.041 seconds.

Tom Blomqvist completed the top three for Meyer Shank Racing, ahead of the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 piloted by Augusto Farfus.

While Cadillac led proceedings during the 20-minute session, Action Express Racing ran into trouble when Alexander Sims hit the wall aboard the No. 31 car in the opening minutes.

The red-nosed Cadillac, which qualified on pole yesterday thanks to Sims’ co-driver Pipo Derani, suffered left-rear and undertray damage after an impact at Turn 13.

“It just snapped,” Sims said.

With just under two hours from the end of warmup to the start of the race, the AXR crew will have limited time to get the car repaired in time to take the green flag.

Mikkel Jensen set the pace in LMP2 for TDS Racing, while Joao Barbosa was quickest in LMP3 at the wheel of the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

Ross Gunn set a best time of 2:04.191 to lead GTD Pro aboard the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, ahead of GTD leader Bill Auberlen in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.

The two-hour and 40-minute race starts at 10:10 a.m. CDT, with live coverage on USA Network.

RESULTS: Warmup