Skeen, Roush Jr. Pace Sonoma First Practice

Authors: Series News - Pirelli World Challenge - Pirelli World Challenge

SONOMA, Calif. – Mike Skeen and Jack Roush Jr. led Friday’s first 45-minute practice for the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sonoma, Round 13 of the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge season and part of the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma weekend.Skeen, of Charlotte, N.C., set a best time of 1:34.700 in the No. 2 Hawk Performance Audi R8 Ultra around the 2.385-mile Sonoma Raceway. He’s currently second in the GT class championship entering the weekend and seeks his third win of the season. 

Anthony Lazzaro, of Atlanta, Ga., in the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 was second at 1:34.980 and Guy Smith, of Beverley, U.K., in the No. 88 Bentley/Breitling/Mobil 1 Bentley Continental GT3 was third at 1:35.074. Smith makes his first Pirelli World Challenge start of the year this weekend in a second Dyson Racing Team Bentley entry.

Points leader Johnny O’Connell, of Flowery Branch, Ga., in the No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V.R, was sixth at 1:35.287. Each of the top six set a best time in this session better than the current track record, O’Connell’s 2013 pole time of 1:35.400.

Albert von Thurn und Taxis, of Regensburg, Germany, in the No. 24 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 was eighth overall and the top GT-A classified driver at 1:35.511.

In GTS, Roush Jr., of Livonia, Mich., in the No. 60 ROUSH Road Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302R, set the fastest time towards the end of the session at 1:43.050.

It beat the time of prior pacesetter Jack Baldwin, of Marietta, Ga., in the No. 73 RESET-MD Porsche Cayman S, at 1:43.096. Roush Jr. looks for his first win of the season, and Baldwin his second, this weekend. 

Mid-Ohio double winner Lawson Aschenbach, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in the No. 1 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro was third at 1:43.500. Points leader Mark Wilkins, of Toronto, in the No. 38 PutOnTheBrakes.org Kia Optima, was eighth in class.

Friday’s second practice runs from 2:15 to 3 p.m. PT and local time.