Christensen Leads Opening Practice at Portland

Michael Christensen set the pace in the first practice session as Pirelli World Challenge made its return to Portland International Raceway.

The Dane’s best lap of 1:11.030 in the No. 24 Porsche 911 GT3 R was 0.241 seconds faster than Jeff Segal who jumped to second late in the session in the No. 31 TR3 Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. Segal, who shares the car with Wei Lu, was the fastest in the Pro-Am class.

Miguel Molina was third in the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 0.592 seconds behind, while Maxime Soulet was fourth in the No. 3 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3.

The No. 96 Porsche of Scott Hargrove and Wolf Henzler completed the top five, while No. 07 Squadra Corse Garage Italia Ferrari of Caesar Bacarella and Martin Fuentes completed were seventh overall and quickest of the Am-Am class contenders.

The lone red flag of the hour-long session came in the opening minutes for No. 9 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 of Alvaro Parente which stopped on track before completing a timed lap.

The car was taken back to the paddock and did not return to the circuit.

Practice 2 is scheduled for 3:50 p.m. PT.

RESULTS: GT Practice 1