By alley - Sep 17, 2015, 2:26 PM ET

IMSA: Negri tops FP1 at COTA

Ozz Negri led Thursday's opening one-hour TUDOR United SportsCar Championship practice session, running a lap of 2:00.205 (101.826mph) in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian AERO Ligier JS P2/Honda co-driven by John Pew.

"We feel good, and we know we can be good when we go into a practice session," Negri said. "Now we are making a few adjustments to make the car better. We tested here a week ago, but the track is definitely different from then and the car feels different. We want to give John the most time so he can get the max out of his driving, so he can qualify the car and run with the top guys."

The top three contenders in the Prototype championship – currently separated by only two points – took the next three positions in practice, running in inverse order to their current standing. Dane Cameron was second in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP co-driven by Eric Curran, 2:00.294 (101.751mph); Joao Barbosa was third, 2:00.544 (101.540mph) in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DO co-driven by Christian Fittipaldi; followed by points leader Richard Westbrook, 2:00.715 (101.396mph), I the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP co-driven by Michael Valiante.

"We have a real good baseline to begin with," said Cameron , who entered the event with 246 points, one behind Barbosa/Fittipaldi and two behind Westbrook/Valiante. "We're looking pretty strong, so now we can see if we can make those two points up."

"There's a lot on the line," said Barbosa. "We had a decent first session, and I think we can improve on it. I'm confident we should be good for the race. We're doing everything we need to do."

Renger van der Zande was fastest in Prototype Challenge (PC), running 2:00.914 (101.229mph) in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Martini ORECA FLM09 co-driven by Mike Hedlund.

In GT Le Mans (GTLM), Earl Bamber and Patrick Pilet led Porsche North America to a sweep of the two fastest laps. Bamber ran 2:05.231 (79.739mph) in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR co-driven by Joerg Bergmeister, followed by class point leader Pilet, who is seeking his fourth consecutive triumph in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR co-driven by Nick Tandy. Pilet had a best lap of 2:05.484 (97.542mph).

Jeroen Bleekemolen was fastest in GT Daytona (GTD), running 2:10.378 (93.881mph) in the defending class-winning No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R co-driven by Ben Keating.

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Source: IMSA

Ozz Negri led Thursday’s opening one-hour TUDOR United SportsCar Championship practice session, running a lap of 2:00.205 (101.826mph) in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian AERO Ligier JS P2/Honda co-driven by John Pew.

“We feel good, and we know we can be good when we go into a practice session,” Negri said. “Now we are making a few adjustments to make the car better. We tested here a week ago, but the track is definitely different from then and the car feels different. We want to give John the most time so he can get the max out of his driving, so he can qualify the car and run with the top guys.”

The top three contenders in the Prototype championship – currently separated by only two points – took the next three positions in practice, running in inverse order to their current standing. Dane Cameron was second in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP co-driven by Eric Curran, 2:00.294 (101.751mph); Joao Barbosa was third, 2:00.544 (101.540mph) in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DO co-driven by Christian Fittipaldi; followed by points leader Richard Westbrook, 2:00.715 (101.396mph), I the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP co-driven by Michael Valiante.

“We have a real good baseline to begin with,” said Cameron , who entered the event with 246 points, one behind Barbosa/Fittipaldi and two behind Westbrook/Valiante. “We’re looking pretty strong, so now we can see if we can make those two points up.”

“There’s a lot on the line,” said Barbosa. “We had a decent first session, and I think we can improve on it. I’m confident we should be good for the race. We’re doing everything we need to do.”

Renger van der Zande was fastest in Prototype Challenge (PC), running 2:00.914 (101.229mph) in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Martini ORECA FLM09 co-driven by Mike Hedlund.

In GT Le Mans (GTLM), Earl Bamber and Patrick Pilet led Porsche North America to a sweep of the two fastest laps. Bamber ran 2:05.231 (79.739mph) in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR co-driven by Joerg Bergmeister, followed by class point leader Pilet, who is seeking his fourth consecutive triumph in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR co-driven by Nick Tandy. Pilet had a best lap of 2:05.484 (97.542mph).

Jeroen Bleekemolen was fastest in GT Daytona (GTD), running 2:10.378 (93.881mph) in the defending class-winning No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R co-driven by Ben Keating.

Source:IMSA