Lime Rock IMSA: Tandy leads for Porsche, Acura tops GTD

The Porsche 911 RSR of Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet topped opening practice for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT-only event at Lime Rock Park.

In the #911 Porsche, Tandy clocked a 50.065sec lap of the 1.474-mile course in Connecticut to beat Oliver Gavin’s time in the #4 Corvette C7.R by a healthy 0.333sec margin.

Gavin is again sharing with Marcel Fassler this weekend while regular partner Tommy Milner recuperates from his hand injury.

Just a whisker slower than the ’Vette was Connor de Phillippi in the #25 BMW M8, with defending champions Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia fourth in the second Corvette.

Richard Westbrook led the way for Ford in the #67 GT ahead of John Edwards (BMW), Dirk Muller (Ford) and Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche).

Mario Farnbacher in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX led the GT Daytona class but outpaced Jeroen Bleekemolen’s Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 by less than 0.1sec.

Bryan Sellers was third fastest in the Lamborghini Huracan of Paul Miller Racing, mere hundredths slower, while Pat Long narrowly edged the Porsche battle for fourth, his Park Place Motorsports entry a sliver faster than Matt Campbell in the returning Wright Motorsports entry.

Second practice begins at 2.20pm local (Eastern) time.

Session results:

ClaNumDriverClassChassisTimeGap
1911 Patrick Pilet
Nick Tandy
GTLMPorsche 911 RSR50.065 
24 Oliver Gavin
Marcel Fassler
GTLMCorvette C7.R50.3980.333
325 Tom Blomqvist
Connor de Phillippi
GTLMBMW M8 GTE50.4160.351
43 Jan Magnussen
Antonio Garcia
GTLMCorvette C7.R50.5330.468
567 Ryan Briscoe
Richard Westbrook
GTLMFord GT50.5450.480
624 Jesse Krohn
John Edwards
GTLMBMW M8 GTE50.6100.545
766 Joey Hand
Dirk Muller
GTLMFord GT50.6550.590
8912 Earl Bamber
Laurens Vanthoor
GTLMPorsche 911 RSR50.9500.885
986 Mario Farnbacher
Trent Hindman
GTDAcura NSX GT351.8131.748
1033 Ben Keating
Jeroen Bleekemolen
GTDMercedes-AMG GT351.8861.821
1148 Bryan Sellers
Corey Lewis
GTDLamborghini Huracan GT351.9121.847
1273 Marco Seefried
Patrick Long
GTDPorsche 911 GT3 R51.9301.865
1391 Anthony Imperato
Matt Campbell
GTDPorsche 911 GT3 R51.9651.900
1411 John Potter
Andy Lally
GTDLamborghini Huracan GT352.0822.017
1596 Bill Auberlen
Robby Foley
GTDBMW M6 GT352.2682.203
1612 Frankie Montecalvo
Townsend Bell
GTDLexus RC F GT352.2912.226
1763 Cooper MacNeil
Toni Vilander
GTDFerrari 488 GT352.3712.306
189 Dennis Olsen
Zacharie Robichon
GTDPorsche 911 GT3 R52.4622.397
1914 Richard Heistand
Jack Hawksworth
GTDLexus RC F GT352.5532.488
2057 Katherine Legge
Christina Nielsen
GTDAcura NSX GT352.6042.539
2176 Paul Holton
Matt Plumb
GTDMcLaren 720S GT352.7372.672

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