Taylor Leads Acura 1-2 in First Long Beach Practice

Photo: Perry Nelson/IMSA

Ricky Taylor led an Acura 1-2 in opening practice for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, putting Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport atop the time sheets.

Taylor reeled off a best lap of 1:11.942 late in the running to edge out the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Tom Blomqvist by 0.858 seconds in the shortened 55-minute session.

Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell were third and fourth for Porsche Penske Motorsport, followed by the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Augusto Farfus, who completed the top-five.

GTP class championship leader Pipo Derani was sixth, followed by the sister Cadillac V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais, which missed the opening half of the session after undergoing system checks per a Cadillac spokesperson.

The No. 25 BMW of Connor De Phillippi brought up the rear of the eight-car GTP field, in the category’s street course debut.

GTD Pro was led by the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Alex Riberas, thanks to a 1:19.303 lap time by the Spaniard.

Riberas’ time was 0.071 seconds quicker than the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth.

Alec Udell made a late-session improvement to go quickest in GTD in his No. 92 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R, meanwhile.

Udell slotted in between Hawksworth and the fourth place quickest GTD Pro/GTD entry of Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD.

Loris Spinelli was second quickest in GTD in the No. 78 Forte Motorsports by USRT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, followed by the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Bryan Sellers.

The session, which ran without any red flags, began ten minutes late due to a track communication issue that delayed the start of Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America practice earlier in the day.

It was reduced by five minutes from the originally scheduled 60-minute session as a result.

Practice 2 gets underway at 12:45 p.m. PT.

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