Blomqvist leads the way with MSR in second IMSA practice at IMS

The No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 went fastest in Saturday morning’s second practice session from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which will lead into qualifying for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.

Both MSR Acuras spent time leading the GTP class, starting with Nick Yelloly in the No. 93 Acura ARX-06, who set the early benchmark with a 1m15.677s.

Then with under 15 minutes left, teammate Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 jumped ahead with a 1m15.597s, and then a 1m15.398s, to set Meyer Shank Racing up nicely for this evening’s qualifications. Blomqvist’s time was nearly four-tenths better than the fastest time from first practice yesterday.

And even better for MSR, the No. 93 has had its penalty for causing a red flag in the first practice session rescinded: IMSA determined upon further review that Renger van der Zande’s off at turn four was due to a steering system problem and not due to driver error.

Behind the two Acuras, Julien Andlauer in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 went third-fastest with a 1m15.773s, with GTP championship leader Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R trailing not far behind in fourth with a 1m15.793s.

Louis Delétraz was fifth in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, while Dries Vanthoor was sixth in the No. 24 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8.

Inter Europol Competition and pro driver Tom Dillmann led LMP2 for the second straight practice. The No. 43 ORECA 07-Gibson set a 1m17.234s to go ahead of the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA on the leaderboard.

Dane Cameron was second for AO Racing, championship leader Alex Quinn was third in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR car, and Mathias Beche was fourth in the No. 11 TDS Racing machine.

It was another Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports 1-2 in GTD Pro: Veteran drivers Antonio García in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3 R and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette led the way, with García setting a 1m23.522s and Milner on a 1m23.574s.

Max Esterson in the No. 59 RLL Team McLaren 720S GT3 Evo was third, ahead of Andrea Caldarelli for Pfaff Motorsports, coming off back-to-back wins for the No. 9 Lamborghini Temerario GT3.
Ben Barker rounded out the top five in the No. 64 Ford Racing Mustang GT3 Evo, while the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO was mired down in ninth place.

The fastest GT time of the session was set once again in GTD, as Danny Formal led the way with a 1m23.240s in the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.

Lorenzo Patrese in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo and Casper Stevenson in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Corvette were second and third; DragonSpeed successfully completed its practice after losing all of the first session with a gearbox problem.

Tom Gamble was fourth in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, and the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO was ninth-quickest in class.

Qualifying for the Battle on the Bricks starts this evening at 5:05 PM ET.

RESULTS