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Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge

De Angelis Quickest on Thursday at Watkins Glen

Roman de Angelis leads way in Thursday Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama practice at The Glen…

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Roman De Angelis posted the quickest time from two Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA practice sessions on Thursday at Watkins Glen International.

Driving the No. 1 Kelly Moss Road and Race Porsche 911, De Angelis turned a best lap of 1:54.870 in the day’s second of two sessions.

Both sessions were run in mixed weather conditions with periods of rain, but conditions were much better in the second, as De Angelis’ time was nearly 13 seconds quicker than David Kolkmann’s leading time in the day’s first practice on Thursday morning.

“Anytime you can end on top, it’s good,” De Angelis said. “It was an awesome session, actually. I like that kind of stuff where you’re fighting between slicks and wets and then it goes wet again. I think we timed it perfectly.

“We went out a bit in the beginning, just in case it did start raining early, just to try to put a lap in when it was more dry. It started drying out, so we pitted and waited it out.

“When we saw the storm coming, we got back in the car on slicks, and I think we picked a good time. I don’t think anyone else called it as well as we did, so I give most of the credit to these guys, because if we would have gone out on wets or if we would have waited, I don’t think we would have been where we were.”

Second quickest on the day was Platinum Cup points leader Trenton Estep with a best lap of 1:55.520 in the No. 3 JDX Racing Porsche.

However, Estep and the JDX team face a challenging evening, as he was involved in an incident at the end of the second practice session along with Gold Cup class competitor Sebastian Carazo in the No. 27 NGT Motorsport Porsche.

Both drivers avoided injury, but Estep’s car sustained heavy front-end damage, while the rear of Carazo’s car was damaged in the incident. Both teams were working to repair their cars before Friday morning’s qualifying session.

Qualifying starts at 9 a.m. ET Friday, with the first of the weekend’s two 45-minute races slated for a 1:45 p.m. ET green flag. The race will be streamed live on IMSA.com.

RESULTS: Practice 1
RESULTS: Practice 2

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