Braun Paces Practice 1 From CTMP

Meyer Shank Racing and driver Colin Braun topped the time sheets in Practice 1 for the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport).

Braun took the #60 Acura ARX-06 LMDH to the top of the board with just 37 seconds left in the 90-minute practice session, posting a time of 1:07.341 before the chequered flag was shown.

Pipo Derani was second-fastest in the championship-leading #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R, with a time of 1:08.121. Derani set his fastest time just seconds before series newcomer George Staikos brought out a red flag with 15 minutes remaining.

The #4 Ave Motorsports Ligier JS P320 broke down along the Andretti Straightaway exiting turn five, not long after Staikos had set a personal best lap.

It was the second red flag in Practice 1, following a very brief red flag for the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Philip Ellis – who’s back in the saddle after missing Watkins Glen, but came to a stop at turn eight momentarily before resuming.

The #10 Konica Minolta Acura of Filipe Albuquerque was third-quickest, followed by the #01 Cadillac of defending race winner Renger van der Zande, the #24 BMW M Team RLL Hybrid V8 of Augusto Farfus, and the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 of Mathieu Jaminet.

Garett Grist and Felipe Fraga traded the lead in LMP3 throughout the final minutes. But it was Grist in the #30 Jr III Racing Ligier who finished with a new course record at a time of 1:12.270, resetting the record he’d set last year in qualifying!

Fraga in the championship-leading #74 Riley Ligier was second, followed by Matthew Bell in the #13 AWA Duquiene D08.

A flurry of fast laps came in at the chequered flag in GTD, where Frankie Montecalvo was quickest aboard the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

His lap of 1:16.558 put him one-tenth clear of the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO of Frederik Schandorff in second.

Fastest in GTD Pro was the #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Antonio Garcia. Garcia’s best time of 1:16.724 stood as the fastest outright time in both GTD classes until the very end.

He was closely followed by the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Ben Barnicoat who finished second in GTD Pro.

Robby Foley in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 reeled off a fast lap just before the chequered flag to take third in GTD, and Alex Riberas was third-fastest in GTD Pro aboard the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

On-track action starts bright and early tomorrow as Practice 2 begins at 8:00 AM EDT (local time), followed by Qualifying at 12:45 PM EDT.

Images courtesy of IMSA