Nasr fastest in second practice at Sebring

Felipe Nasr was the pacesetter in the second IMSA practice session of Sebring 12 Hours week. The Brazilian, steering the Rolex 24-winning No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, ended up topping the times by 0.259 as teams up and down pit lane prepared for qualifying tomorrow.

Nasr’s session-topping lap was a 1:47.043, 0.942s faster than the benchmark lap from Laurens Vanthoor in the sister No. 6 throwback-liveried 963 during the previous session.

It wasn't a Porsche 1-2 this time, as the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 flashed pace with a lap time from Tom Blomqvist, a 1:47.302. Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R finished in third position, beating out the No. 6 Porsche with a late-session push lap and making it three factories in the top three.

That pushed the No. 6 Porsche to fourth, with Kevin Estre with a lap set very early in the running. The two Wayne Taylor Cadillacs, like the No. 6, ran qualifying simulations. As Practice 2 wound down, Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 went fifth fastest, followed by Louis Delétraz in the No. 40 who ended up sixth.

LMP2's headline came from AO Racing's camp once again. The crew managed to get 'Spike' out for the session, a remarkable feat after the car sustained huge damage in a shunt during the opening session. Better still, the ORECA was rapid, with Dane Cameron rewarding the team's mechanics with a 1:50.639 to top the session.

Reigning Sebring winner Tom Dillmann in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA was the next-fastest P2 driver on track, ever so close to the No. 99, with just a 0.056 margin between them. Sebastian Alvarez was the third fastest in the Canadian No. 8 Tower Motorsports example.

Practice 1 headliner, the No. 22 United Autosport USA 07, finished fourth with Paul Di Resta once again logging the car’s best lap.

The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche was once again the fastest in GTD Pro category, with British Sebring rookie Harry King posting a time of 2:00.070. Dean MacDonald in the No. 59 RLL Team McLaren finished the session second fastest, followed by the Risi Competizione Ferrari.

Once again, though, it wasn't a Pro class car that topped the session. Dudu Barrichello put in a 2:00.029 to best the entire GT field in the GTD-entered No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, a big improvement after finishing fifth fastest in the previous session. Fastest in Practice 1, but runner-up in GTD during the second session, was the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes, with Philip Ellis 0.535s back.

Frederik Schandorff in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari finished third fastest, just ahead of the No. 81 Dragonspeed Corvette piloted by Giacomo Altoè.

Night practice kicks off tonight at 7:45 pm local time.

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