Buford Quickest on Friday at St. Pete

Jade Buford ran seven-tenths clear at the top of the Pirelli GT4 America timing sheets ahead of this weekend’s pair of Sprint series races at St. Pete.

Buford, driving the No. 41 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4, was the only driver to dip under the 1-minute 20-second barrier on Friday afternoon, with his time of 1:19.524 standing as the best of the day.

Second quickest in Practice 2 was morning pace-setter Spencer Pumpelly with a 1:20.225 in the No. 66 TRG Porsche 718 Cayman Clubsport GT4, while Ian James ran third in the best of the Team Panoz Racing Avezzano GTs.

As was the case in Practice 1, Friday’s second session featured a diverse range of cars at the top of the order, with Shane Lewis, now scoring in the Pro class, running fourth in a Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R ahead of Michael Cooper in a McLaren 570S GT4.

Quickest in the Am category was Alan Brynjolfsson, who swept the day’s running behind the wheel of the Park Place Motorsports Porsche.

The Norwegian traded fastest laps with Jarett Andretti but ended up in front by the end with his time of 1:20.497, some seven-tenths quicker than the Andretti Autosport McLaren driver.

Third in class was Thomas Collingwood in the BGB Motorsports Porsche, ahead of Cooper’s Blackdog Speed Shop McLaren teammate Tony Gaples.

Qualifying gets underway at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, followed by Race 1 at 4 p.m. ET. 

RESULTS: Practice 2