Lazzaro, von Thurn und Taxis, Aschenbach Lead Mid-Ohio Practice

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LEXINGTON, Ohio – Anthony Lazzaro, of Atlanta, Ga. (GT), Albert von Thurn und Taxis, of Regensburg, Germany (GT-A) and Lawson Aschenbach, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (GTS) were fastest in Friday's 45-minute practice session for the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge Presented by StopTech, Rounds 11 and 12 of the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge season.Lazzaro, driving the lone entry from Remo Ferri’s group this weekend, the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, posted a flier of 1:21.580 to lead the GT class. Five different manufacturers were represented in the top five positions.

Ryan Dalziel, of Winter Park, Fla. in the No. 31 EFFORT Racing Porsche GT3 R was second at 1:21.938 ahead of his first start of the season. Dalziel’s former Champ Car teammate, Alex Figge, of Denver, Col., clocked in third in the No. 9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 12C GT3 at 1:21.965 – a great effort in his first start in the team’s new McLaren that was built up following his Road America accident.

Butch Leitzinger, of State College, Pa., in the No. 08 Bentley/Breitling/Mobil 1 Bentley Continental GT3 was fourth with Mike Skeen, of Charlotte, N.C., in the No. 2 Hawk Performance Audi R8 Ultra, fifth. Points leader Johnny O’Connell, of Flowery Branch, Ga., in the No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V.R was seventh in the session.

Von Thurn und Taxis, in the No. 24 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo FL2, was quickest of the 13 GT-A classified drivers, 10th overall at 1:22.991. This marks his first road course race weekend of the season in Pirelli World Challenge, having driven previously at the street races in St. Petersburg and Toronto. Teammate Marcelo Hahn, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, was second in the No. 0 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 and Michael Mills, of Angleton, Texas, was third in the No. 41 EFFORT Racing Porsche GT3 R.

Aschenbach, who won the Sunday Mid-Ohio race last year, led the GTS field at 1:28.440 in the No. 1 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro. Another Camaro, the No. 20 Best IT/Crown Seven Chevrolet Camaro driven by Andy Lee, of Colorado Springs, Col., was second at 1:28.970.

The pair of Kia Racing/Kinetic Motorsports teammates clocked in third and fifth with Nic Jonsson, of Buford, Ga., third in the No. 36 DonorsChoose.org Kia Optima and Mark Wilkins, of Toronto, fifth in the No. 38 PutOnTheBrakes.org Kia Optima. Dean Martin, of Westland, Mich., in the No. 50 Picture Cars East/Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302S was sandwiched in-between them, in fourth.

Of note, the new Acura from RealTime Racing made its official practice debut, with Peter Cunningham, of Milwaukee, Wis., turning 15 laps in the session in the No. 42 Acura/RealTime Racing Acura TLX-GT. There were 49 of the 53 combined GT, GT-A and GTS cars that took a lap during the session.

Next session for GT, GT-A and GTS will be qualifying, held Saturday morning from 8 to 8:45 a.m. ET.