IMSA: Mazda fast, Ford flames in first practice

The two-hour opening practice session for IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Long Beach went swimmingly until the last 10 minutes when the No. 67 Ford GT driven by Richard Westbrook caught fire.

"It's something on the engine; we're not sure if something blew or a line came off," said Westy's co-driver Ryan Briscoe. "Thankfully he got out and put out the fire."

The big news from the session was Mazda (ABOVE) claimed the top spot on the timesheets with a 1:15.917 set by the No. 55 piloted by Jonathan Bomarito and Tristan Nunez. Defending race winners Wayne Taylor Racing were second in the No. 10 Corvette DP (1:15.917), and the No. 90 VisitFlorida Racing Corvette DP took third (1:16.288).

"They've changed a few things on the track that have helped us," explained Bomarito. "Some of the big curbing they had last year, we just couldn't use while the DPs could. That really hurt us, especially in Turn 8 coming onto the back straightaway. They eliminated the big curbs there, so now we can carry more speed and run right to the [inside] wall. It's smoother and helps launch our car down that straight.

"So, just on track conditions versus last year, we've really closed the gap on the handling. That's good. The car's running good. The team's doing good. Everybody's doing their job."

GT Le Mans was led by Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R (1:18.533). BMW Team RLL was second with the No. 100 M6 (1:18.579) and the sister No. 3 Corvette completed the top-3 (1:18.579).

IMSA's PC class made its first appearance at Long Beach with CORE autosport's No. 54 ORECA FLM09-Chevrolet (1:17.185) atop the seven runners. Starworks Motorsport's No. 8 PC was second (1:18.463) and the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen entry was third (1:18.513).

Next up is qualifying at 5 p.m. PT.