Penske Acuras remain on top in the Mid-Ohio rain

IMSA’s second WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice session at Mid-Ohio presented its drivers with a massive downpour, thunder, multiple red flags, and a brief respite with lighter skies to close the wild one-hour session.

Even with the ever-changing conditions, one constant was found as Acura Team Penske carried over its morning pace to run 1-2 once more. Juan Pablo Montoya in the No. 6 Acura ARX-05 took his turn to post a session-leading lap (1m36.867s) before the skies opened up. Teammate Helio Castroneves was close behind (+0.130s) in the No. 7 Acura, but the team was forced to replace the bodywork when Ricky Taylor slid off in the rain and backed the ARX-05 into the barriers.

Jordan Taylor completed the Prototype top three in his No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R (+0.348s). JDC/GAINSCO’s Stephen Simpson was fastest among the WEC P2s in sixth with his No. 99 ORECA 07-Gibson (+2.860s).

Directly behind Simpson, Laurens Vanthoor set the fastest GT Le Mans lap—ahead of six prototypes – using Michelin rubber on his No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR (1m40.961s). Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia was second in GTLM and eighth overall with the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R (+ 0.526s), and stablemate Oliver Gavin was 10th overall and third in GTLM with his No. 4 Corvette (+1.846s).

Image by Marshall Pruett

Like Prototype, GT Daytona featured a 1-2 for the same team and manufacturer as Riley Motorsports and its No. 33 GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Jeroen Bleekemolen on board (1m44.420s) and Maro Engel’s No. 75 GTD Mercedes-AMG (+0.032s) took control of the class. A distant third went to Meyer Shank Racing’s Justin Marks in the No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 (+1.297s).

Saturday’s forecast, at present, calls for dry weather.

UP NEXT: FP3, 8:35 a.m. ET.