Kellymoss’ Hartog Paces Watkins Glen Practice

Photo: Jessica Johnk/Porsche

Loek Hartog continued where he last left off in Porsche Carrera Cup North America competition by topping the time charts in the opening day of track activity at Watkins Glen International.

The Dutchman, who leads the Pro championship and was victorious last time out in Montreal, paced both sessions on the day, having reeled off a best time of 1:49.376 in his No. 24 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car in the morning session.

It was four-tenths seconds quicker than Alex Sedgwick in the No. 98 PT Autosport-backed, JDX Racing-run Porsche, who improved marginally in the afternoon’s delayed damp-to-dry second outing.

Dan Clarke’s 1:39.978 lap time in the No. 64 MDK Motorsports Porsche was good enough for third on the day, followed by Topp Racing Performance’s Ryan Yardley in fourth.

ACI Motorsports driver Jimmy Llibre completed the top-five, despite not being prohibited to set a time in second practice due to “prohibited use of series tires on June 16.”

Alan Metni led the way in the Pro-Am class with the sixth quickest time overall, which was also set in Practice 1, followed by Pro class racers Michael McCann and Zach Vanier.

Masters class honors on Thursday went to the No. 68 Kellymoss Porsche of Chris Bellomo, who was 19th overall out of the 34-car field.

Both sessions ran without any red flags or significant incidents.

Qualifying is set for 9:45 a.m. EDT on Friday, followed by the first race of the weekend at 4:20 p.m., with live coverage on PorscheCarreraCup.us, Peacock and on IMSA.tv.

RESULTS: Practice (Combined)

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