Tincknell Quickest in Opening Practice at The Glen

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

A late flyer by Harry Tincknell has put Team Joest atop the time sheets in the opening practice session for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

The Englishman reeled off a 1:30.690 lap in the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P in the closing seconds of the session, which was brought to an early end for GT Daytona class Bronze/Silver-rated drivers due to an accident and fire for an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo.

Tincknell ended up 0.112 seconds faster than the No. 7 Team Penske Acura ARX-05 of Helio Castroneves, followed by Dane Cameron in the sister No. 6 Acura DPi in third.

Colin Braun led the way early in the session in the No. 54 CORE autosport Nissan DPi, was fourth, with Felipe Nasr the best of the Cadillac DPi contingent in completing the top-five.

The prototypes and GT Le Mans cars ran to the full length of the 60-minute session, although an accident by Will Hardeman in the No. 19 Moorespeed Audi at the Bus Stop resulted in the 15-minute extended GTD Silver/Bronze-only session not running.

Ford Leads GTLM in 1-2

Richard Westbrook led a Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 in GTLM, following issues for several class competitors.

The Englishman’s 1:42.673 lap time also came late in the session and pipped teammate Dirk Mueller by just 0.043 seconds.

Tommy Milner was third quickest in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R, while the sister Corvette only turned three laps with engine gremlins.

It has forced the Pratt & Miller-run team to undergo an engine change.

Trouble also hit the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Pilet, who went to the garage with power steering issues.

Andy Lally, meanwhile, led the GTD ranks in his No. 44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

Lally’s time was 0.246 seconds quicker than Bill Auberlen in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3, with the No. 540 Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Dirk Werner making it three different manufacturers in the top-three.

LMP2 was led by the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Gabriel Aubry.

In addition to Hardeman’s accident, the session saw an early red flag for the No. 84 JDC-Miller Motorports Cadillac DPi-V.R of Chris Miller, which stopped on track.

The second and final practice of the day is set for 3:05 p.m. ET.

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