Pipo Derani has set the quickest time for Whelen Engineering Racing in the opening practice session for the Acura Sports Car Challenge presented by TLX Type S at Mid-Ohio.
The Brazilian posted a time of 01:11:846 in the #31 Cadillac DPi-VR, becoming the only driver to dip below the 1:12 mark in the session.
He was 0.375s quicker than Ricky Taylor in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05, with his former Team Penske stablemate Dane Cameron third in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
Renger van der Zande and Tristan Vautier were third and fourth for Chip Ganassi Racing and Mustang Sampling Racing respectively, while Harry Tincknell rounded out the top class in the #55 Mazda RT24-P, a second off the pace.
Colin Braun meanwhile topped the timesheets for CORE Autosport in LMP3, leading the way in the #54 Ligier JS P320 by posting a 01:17:240.
Braun outpaced the debuting #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier by exactly a tenth, with Oliver Askew setting the fastest time. The car caussed the only red flag of the session when it came to a halt on track early on.
Felipe Fraga was third in the #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, with team-mate Dylan Murry fourth in the #91 sister car.
Finally, Jack Hawksworth posted the quickest time in the GTD category in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3.
The Briton set a time of 01:20:513 to beat out Turner Motorsports’ Bill Auberlen by just under three tenths, with the veteran second in the #96 BMW M6 GT3.
Patrick Long put the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R third in class, with the top five rounded out by the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor and the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini of Bryan Sellers.
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