Michael Shank Racing Sweeps Rolex 24 Practice Sessions

The recaps below appeared on RACER.com.

After the second practice session – and the final practice session before qualifying – for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda HPD is still the only car to turn a lap under 100 seconds, with Oswaldo Negri Jr. turning a nearly identical time to this morning’s session at 1:39.629. However, the competition has moved closer to the Ligier, with the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP about six-tenths behind (1:40.271), this time with Joao Barbosa at the wheel.Olivier Pla reinforced the strength of the Ligiers, sitting third at 1:41.719 in the No. 57 Krohn Racing Ligier JS P2 Judd. The No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing Corvette DP and the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Riley DP Ford Ecoboost rounded out the top five.The two BMW Team RLL Z4 GTEs topped GTLM until the closing stages when Gianmaria Bruni put the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia at the top of the time sheet with a 1:44.273. He was followed by the No. 3 Corvette C7.R (1:44.747) and the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari.Jeroen Bleekemolen pushed the Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT to the top of GTD, turning a 1:47.549. A trio of Porsches followed, led by the No. 58 Wright Motorsports 911 GT America (1:47.984), then the No. 44 Magnus Racing car that topped the first practice and the No. 22 Alex Job Racing machine.CORE Autosport led Prototype Challenge, with Colin Braun lapping at 1:42.887. He was followed by BAR1 Motorsports and first session leader PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.Being only a 30-minute session, most teams kept the same driver in the car for the duration. Qualifying begins at 4 p.m. Eastern time.Shank Ligier-Honda leads Rolex 24 FP1Oswaldo Negri Jr. drew first blood as official practice for the 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona opened, kicking off the second season of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. In the new Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Ligier JS P2/Honda that he will share with John Pew, AJ Allmendinger and Matt McMurry, he turned a lap 1.115sec faster than the rest of the field at 1:39.663, about a quarter second slower than the team's best time at the Roar before the 24 test two weeks ago.Second fastest was defending Rolex 24 and TUDOR Championship Prototype champs Action Express Racing, with Christian Fittipaldi turning the quickest lap in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP (1:40.748). Action Express led the majority of the session, holding the top spot for nearly the first 40 minutes of the hour-long session.Five more cars were within the same second as Fittipaldi, led by the No. 01 Ford Ecoboost/Target Riley DP with Saga Karam at the wheel (1:40.902) in third overall.Bill Auberlen led GTLM in the BMW Team RLL/IHG Rewards Club BMW Z4 GTE at 1:44.990. The top three in GTLM were within about half a tenth, with the No. 3 Corvette in second (1:45.005) and the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia in third (1:45.044).Prototype Challenge favorites CORE Autosport had to settle for second quick time in the class (1:43.628), which was led by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports at 1:43.476, turned by Tom Kimber-Smith.Two Porsches were split by a Ferrari in the top 3 of GTD. Andy Lally led the session in the Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America at 1:48.084. The No. 63 Scuderia Corsa 458 Italia was second (1:48.367), followed by the No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche.The session was interrupted by a single red flag to tow in a couple of spun/stalled cars, the No. 2 Tequila Patron Honda HPD ARX and the DeltaWing DWC13, both of which turned only a single lap. The next practice session begins at 1:20 p.m. Eastern time.