Negri Leads Opening Practice For Sahlen’s Six Hours Of The Glen
After getting a head start with a private test session earlier in the month at Watkins Glen International, Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian came out of the blocks strong in Friday’s opening TUDOR United SportsCar Championship practice for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.
“We came here to test right after our race in Detroit [on May 30], and that really helped us," Negri said. “Today the car was hooked up from the get-go. This track really suits our car. I was driving it hard today – and that’s the way the car likes it. John was awesome in this morning’s practice. We know we have a good car for dry conditions. It if rains tomorrow or Sunday, we’ll start all over."
Defending Prototype Challenge (PC) winner Colin Braun led the class with a lap of 1:40.815 (121.411 mph) in the No. 54 CORE autosport Flex-Box/Composite Resources ORECA FLM09. Detroit winner Renger van der Zande was second in the No. 8 Martini ORECA FLM09, running 1:41.471 (120.626 mph).
Ozz Negri was fastest in both one-hour sessions in the No. 60 Ligier J2 P2/Honda, running a best lap of 1:38.055 (124.828 mph) on the historic 3.4-mile circuit. The Brazilian will join John Pew in the car for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six (live, FOX Sports 1, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; FOX Sports 2, 2-4:30 p.m.).
“We came here to test right after our race in Detroit [on May 30], and that really helped us," Negri said. “Today the car was hooked up from the get-go. This track really suits our car. I was driving it hard today – and that’s the way the car likes it. John was awesome in this morning’s practice. We know we have a good car for dry conditions. It if rains tomorrow or Sunday, we’ll start all over."
Action Express Racing took the next two positions in the Prototype (P) class. Joao Barbosa was second in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/Cider Tree Corvette DP, running 1:38.740 (123.962 mph). He was followed by the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP driven by Dane Cameron, 1:38.770 (123.924 mph).
John Edwards ran the fastest lap in GT Le Mans in the No. 24 IHG Rewards Club BMW Z4 GTLM co-driven by Lucas Luhr, turning a lap of 1:44.177 (117.492 mph) late in the second session after Corvette Racing led the class for most of the day.
After having its Daytona and Sebring-winning No. 3 Corvette badly damaged in an incident during qualifying at Le Mans two weeks ago, Corvette Racing borrowed its 2014 race car from the French Larbre Competition team and prepared it for this weekend.
“It’s a good race car – a car we can race with," Garcia said. “Right now it’s running pretty good. Weather is a big question for everyone. We’re happy with the car in the dry, and if it’s good in the dry, I’m sure it will be good in the wet."
Defending Prototype Challenge (PC) winner Colin Braun led the class with a lap of 1:40.815 (121.411 mph) in the No. 54 CORE autosport Flex-Box/Composite Resources ORECA FLM09. Detroit winner Renger van der Zande was second in the No. 8 Martini ORECA FLM09, running 1:41.471 (120.626 mph).TRG-AMR substitute driver Kuno Wittmer was fastest in GT Daytona (GTD), running 1:48.832 (112.467 mph) in the No. 007 Royal Purple/Orion Energy/LaSalle Solutions/PassTime USA Aston Martin Vantage co-driven by Christina Nielsen. Leh Keen was second with a lap of 1:48.984 (112.310 mph) in the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America.
Qualifying for Round 3 of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup will begin at 3:40 p Qualifying for Round 3 of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance. Saturday.