Connor De Phillippi, just like he did in the first practice session for the IMSA SportsCar weekend at Road America on Friday, set a fast time early on in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8. In the second session, however, his time of 1m50.335s (132.08mph) remained the best of the weekend so far.
Similar to how the first practice ended under a red flag, this session also came to an end when Ben Keating went off track in the Carousel and hit an unprotected part of the concrete wall with the No. 2 United Autosports ORECA, after his co-driver Ben Hanley set the fastest LMP2 time. The ORECA sustained significant damage, but Keating’s raised thumb out of the door indicated to emergency workers that he was okay. Keating had gone wide at Turn 8 just before the accident, but it’s unclear if both incidents had the same cause or if going wide prior left him with dirty tires that couldn’t grip in the Carousel.
Although the session resumed with a little over 2 minutes remaining, many cars stayed in the pits and only one driver improved their time in the final attempt.
Filipe Albuquerque, who set the fastest time on Friday, was only 0.009s behind De Phillippi, leading the two Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06s in second and third. Jordan Taylor recorded a lap time of 1m50.620s in the No. 40 Acura, trailing his teammate by 0.258s.
Jess Krohn was the fourth fastest in the No. 24 M Hybrid V8, but an off-track excursion in Road America’s infamous Kink may have caused damage to the car. The crew was dismantling the rear of the BMW in the garage before the session ended. Gianmaria Bruni completed the top five in the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche 963, leading the Porsche group.
Hanley may have set the fastest time in the No. 2 ORECA, but the United Autosports team has a lot of work ahead of them to prepare the car for Sunday’s race, let alone Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session. Tom Dillmann was 0.053s behind Hanley in the No. 52 Euro Interpol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA, splitting the United entries. Paul Di Resta posted a time of 1m53.575 in the No. 22.
Scott Andrews in the No. 79 JDC-Miller MotorSports ORECA and Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 88 AF Corse ORECA completed the top five.
Jack Hawksworth, the winner in 2022 with Ben Barnicoat at Road America in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, was the fastest GTD PRO driver in the session with a lap time of 2m03.475s (120.94mph). Alexander Sims followed in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R (2m03.615s), as did Bryan Sellers in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 (1m03.648s).
Dirk Mueller and Nicky Catsburg completed the top five for Ford Multimatic Motorsports and Corvette Racing by PMM, respectively, behind the top two GTD runners.
Loris Spinelli led the GTD field in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, with his time of 2m03.804s being 0.249s faster than Onofrio Triarsi in the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, which was making its first appearance in a sprint race.
Mikael Grenier was third in GTD in the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3. Roman De Angelis (No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo) and Russell Ward (No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3) finished fourth and fifth.
The session was interrupted by two red flags, the first lasting seven minutes due to the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 stopping on the track, and the second for Keating’s incident.
Photo by Connor De Phillippi Instagram
