Ellis Puts Regulator Mercedes on Top in First COTA Practice

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Philip Ellis continued his hot streak in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS on Friday morning at Circuit of The Americas by setting the quickest time for Regulator Racing.

The Mercedes-AMG factory driver reeled off a best lap of 2:04.219 in his No. 91 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo he shares with Jeff Burton to go quickest in the 60-minute session.

Pro class championship leaders Wright Motorsports was second quickest in the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R shared by Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson, followed by the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen.

The No. 85 RS1 Porsche, now running in the Pro-Am class, was fourth, ahead of the debuting No. 88 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, which completed the top-five.

CrowdStrike by Riley’s Colin Braun was sixth, ahead of the No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and the quickest of the DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs, the No. 63 machine in eighth.

The second and final practice session of the weekend gets underway at 3:05 p.m. CDT.

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