Yelloly Leads Acura MSR 1-2 in Opening Road America Practice

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Nick Yelloly led an Acura Meyer Shank Racing 1-2 in the opening practice session for Sunday’s Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America.

Yelloly, in the No. 93 Acura ARX-06, reeled off a 1:51.008 in the 90-minute session to edge out teammate Tom Blomqvist by 0.697 seconds.

The two Acuras were more than 1.1 seconds clear of the competition, with third-placed Louis Deletraz laying down a 1:52.131 in his No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.

Laurin Heinrich, in the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963, and the No. 10 WTR Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque completed the top-five.

Sheldon van der Linde put the Spider-Man-liveried No. 24 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 sixth on the time charts, although more than 1.3 seconds off Yelloly’s benchmark.

GTP championship leader Jack Aitken was seventh in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac, with Felipe Nasr, in the Penske Porsche RS Spyder tribute liveried No. 7 entry, eighth quickest.

Both the Nos. 6 and 7 Porsches had slight off-course moments in Turn 5 late in the session.

The No. 6 car of Laurens Vanthoor brought up the rear of the 11-car GTP class, with the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie of Roman De Angelis tenth.

De Angelis’ co-driver, Ross Gunn, brought out the session’s only red flag halfway into the session when he went off at Canada Corner, although didn’t appear to make any significant contact with the barriers.

As a result of bringing out the red, the Valkyrie’s fastest time in qualifying will be deleted.

The No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Robert Megennis stopped on track moments after Gunn’s off, after the Ferrari’s right-rear suspension collapsed after going over a curb.

LMP2 was led by the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson of Paul di Resta, who was nearly three-tenths up on the No. 99 AO Racing entry driven by Dane Cameron.

The sister United Autosports entry of Mikkel Jensen was third in class.

Thomas Preining, back in the No. 911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, was quickest in GTD Pro, thanks to a 2:05.384 lap time by the Austrian.

It was 0.034 seconds quicker than Ricardo Agonstini in the No. 033 Triarsi Ferrari, also in the top production-based class.

Quickest in GTD was the No. 068 YRB Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Valentine Hasse-Clot.

Practice 2 is on tap for 9:55 a.m. CST on Saturday.

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