PWC: Smith, Montecalvo and Thompson top GT Miller practice

For the opening Pirelli World Challenge practice at Miller Motorsports Park at the Ford Grand presented by VP Racing Fuels, it was Guy Smith at the top of the GT time sheets with a fast lap of 1:48.543. In the GTA category, Frank Montecalvo set the mark at 1:49.433 while Colin Thompson led the GT Cup time sheets at 1:54.603.

Early on in GT, Johnny O’Connell was out front in his No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac ATS-VR GT3 as he went to the top of the time sheets at 1:49.806, and bettered his time down to 1:49.593 for the ninth overall fastest lap.

In the first part of the session for GTA, it was Henrique Cisneros driving the No. 30 NGT Motorsport MOMO Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia going quick. Cisneros went fastest with a 1:50.776. He would surrender the top spot to Montecalvo in the No. 66 DragonSpeed Bayshore Racing Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 who went faster and continued to improve his time throughout the session to lead the GTA field of drivers.

GT Cup Championship Points leader Colin Thompson in the No. 11 Porsche of Bucks County/Penn Valley Constructors/Sherwin Williams Automotive Finishes/Austin Hatcher Foundation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup led the class for the 30-minute practice, with his fastest lap coming in a tenth and a half ahead of Alec Udell  in the No. 17 GMG Amsource Capital/Panther Pipeline Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

As the session evolved, Ryan Dalziel took over the top overall spot in the No. 31 EFFORT Racing World PMO Porsche 911 GT3R. Just a few minutes later the times shuffled again, with Smith going fastest in GT in the No. 20 Team Bentley Dyson Racing Bentley/Breitling/Mobil1 Bentley Continental GT3. Smith is making his first Pirelli World Challenge start of the season this weekend, and won Round 15 of the season at Miller in 2014. Of note, there were seven manufacturers in the top 10 at the conclusion of practice.