Watkins Glen IMSA: Cameron keeps MSR Acura on top in FP2

Cameron lapped the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen course in 1min30.451sec, 0.231sec faster than Ricky Taylor’s best effort in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05.

Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani was a further 0.2sec adrift in the best of the Cadillac DPi-V.Rs, a similar distance ahead of Renger van der Zande’s Chip Ganassi Racing’s similar car.

Oliver Jarvis set the Mazda RT24-P’s best time in fifth, although it was 0.76sec off top sport, albeit ahead of two more Cadillacs – AXR’s extra entry, to be driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Simon Pagenaud and Jimmie Johnson, and the Sebring 12 Hours winner, the JDC-Miller MotorSports machine.

Mikkel Jensen topped LMP2 in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport entry ahead of the Era Motorsport machine of Ryan Dalziel, with Tower Motorsport and United Autosports third and fourth.

Steven Thomas caused a red flag when his WIN Autosport LMP2 entry hit both the barriers and the GTD Pfaff Porsche 911 at Turn 8 after locking up his rear brakes. The car rejoined the action but it suffered a rear wing issue.

In LMP3, the Felipe Fraga/Scott Andrews/Gar Robinson-driven Riley Motorsports Ligier led Oliver Askew in the Andretti Autosport entry, followed by United Autosports and the second Riley car of Jeroen Bleekemolen.

The GT Le Mans field is once more boosted by the presence of the BMW team for this third enduro of the IMSA season, and it was the #25 M8 GTE of Connor De Phillippi, Bruno Spengler and Philipp Eng which topped the class, 0.125sec ahead of Antonio Garcia’s best effort in the #3 Corvette C8.R.

Their respective teammates John Edwards and Nick Tandy were third and fourth, with Cooper MacNeil fifth in the WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19.

There wasn’t a hope of any GT Daytona rival getting close to Indy Lights ace Kyle Kirkwood’s best time of 1min45.156sec in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F, Robby Foley coming closest in the Turner Motorsport BMW M6, recovered from its driveline issues yesterday but almost 0.75sec off top spot.

Newest Wright Motorsports member Trent Hindman turned the best time for the #16 Porsche 911 GT3 R but was a second off P1, but ahead of Billy Johnson’s Alegra Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, with the second Lexus next up ahead of the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage.

The returning NTe Sport Audi R8 was an impressive seventh fastest in the hands of Markus Palttala.

Qualifying begins at 11.50am local (Eastern) time.

Cla	Num	Driver	Class	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	60	Dane Cameron Olivier Pla	DPi	Acura DPi	1'30.451
2	10	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque Alexander Rossi	DPi	Acura DPi	1'30.682	0.231
3	31	Felipe Nasr Mike Conway Pipo Derani	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'30.893	0.442
4	01	Renger van der Zande Kevin Magnussen	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'31.085	0.634
5	55	Oliver Jarvis Harry Tincknell Jonathan Bomarito	DPi	Mazda DPi	1'31.211	0.760
6	48	Jimmie Johnson Kamui Kobayashi Simon Pagenaud	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'31.377	0.926
7	5	Tristan Vautier Loic Duval Sébastien Bourdais	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'31.757	1.306
8	52	Ben Keating Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'33.941	3.490
9	18	Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'34.901	4.450
10	8	John Farano Gabriel Aubry James French	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'35.091	4.640
11	22	James McGuire Wayne Boyd Guy Smith	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'35.888	5.437
12	11	Thomas Steven Tristan Nunez Thomas Merrill	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	1'39.366	8.915
13	74	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Scott Andrews	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	1'39.937	9.486
14	36	Jarett Andretti Oliver Askew Marco Andretti	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	1'40.718	10.267
15	2	Niklas Kruetten Edouard Cauhaupe Austin McCusker	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	1'41.657	11.206
16	91	Jim Cox Dylan Murry Jeroen Bleekemolen	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	1'41.886	11.435
17	25	Connor de Phillippi Philipp Eng Bruno Spengler	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	1'41.977	11.526
18	3	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor	GTLM	Corvette C8.R	1'42.102	11.651
19	54	Jon Bennett George Kurtz Colin Braun	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	1'42.176	11.725
20	24	John Edwards Jesse Krohn Augusto Farfus	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	1'42.273	11.822
21	4	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy	GTLM	Corvette C8.R	1'42.319	11.868
22	38	Rasmus Lindh Mateo Llarena Dan Goldburg	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	1'42.451	12.000
23	79	Cooper MacNeil Mathieu Jaminet Matt Campbell	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	1'43.146	12.695
24	84	Theodor Olsen Dominic Cicero Ben Devlin	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	1'43.842	13.391
25	14	Aaron Telitz Jack Hawksworth Kyle Kirkwood	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'45.156	14.705
26	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley Aidan Read	GTD	BMW M6 GT3	1'45.898	15.447
27	16	Patrick Long Jan Heylen Trent Hindman	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'46.193	15.742
28	28	Daniel Morad Michael de Quesada Billy Johnson	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	1'46.304	15.853
29	12	Frankie Montecalvo Zach Veach Robert Megennis	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'46.380	15.929
30	23	Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn Ian James	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	1'46.608	16.157
31	42	Don Yount Jaden Conwright Markus Palttala	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3	1'46.698	16.247
32	19	Mikhail Goikhberg Franck Perera Tim Zimmermann	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	1'46.746	16.295
33	75	Kenny Habul Mikael Grenier Maro Engel	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	1'46.794	16.343
34	1	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Corey Lewis	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	1'46.821	16.370
35	39	Richard Heistand Jeff Westphal Tyler McQuarrie	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3	1'46.823	16.372
36	9	Zacharie Robichon Laurens Vanthoor Lars Kern	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'47.055	16.604
37	44	John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'47.288	16.837
38	88	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge Andrew Davis	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'47.366	16.915
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