Van der Zande Leads Cadillac 1-2 in Opening Sebring Practice

Renger van der Zande led a Cadillac 1-2 in the opening practice session ahead of this weekend’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Cadillac.

The Dutchman, who will be making his 100th start in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on Saturday, steered the gold-liveried No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R to a best time of 1:48.279.

In the process, he went 0.479 seconds faster than the No. 31 Action Express Racing car of Jack Aitken, with Nick Tandy third aboard the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963.

Brendon Hartley went fourth fastest in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, while Louis Deletraz rounded out the overall top five behind the wheel of the sister Acura.

BMW M Team RLL slotted into sixth and seventh with Connor De Phillippi’s No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 ahead of the No. 24 car of Augusto Farfus, while Dane Cameron was eighth for Porsche Penske Motorsport.

JDC-Miller Motorsports’ Phil Hanson and the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 completed the overall top ten, with the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche the only GTP runner to not set a time.

The Mustang Sampling-liveried machine grounded to a halt in the opening minutes with Gianmaria Bruni at the wheel, resulting in the only red flag across 90 minutes of running.

The No. 5 Porsche reportedly suffered an issue switching from hybrid power to the combustion engine and did not rejoin the session.

Mikkel Jensen led proceedings in LMP2 by posting a 1:51.342 aboard the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 Gibson, 0.021 seconds quicker than United Autosports driver Paul di Resta.

Jack Hawksworth went quickest in GTD Pro as Vasser Sullivan topped both of the classes in the GT field, the British driver reeling off a 2:00.202 aboard the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3.

Daniel Serra was second aboard the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, ahead of the GTD-leading No. 12 Lexus piloted by Parker Thompson.

A number of cars failed to set competitive laps during the session because of a variety of issues, affecting cars in GTD Pro, GTD and LMP2.

An engine problem curtailed Era Motorsport’s session in LMP2, while the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 and the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 also did not record a time.

Gradient Racing, Lone Star Racing and Proton Competition’s No. 55 Ford Mustang GT3 all spent long periods in the garage but did get times on the board late on.

Pfaff Motorsports, meanwhile, encountered late issues when its No. 9 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo stopped on track in the closing minutes with Oliver Jarvis behind the wheel.

Second practice for the WeatherTech Championship takes place at 3:05 p.m. EDT.

RESULTS: Practice 1