Detroit IMSA: Derani, Legge lead opening practice
Pipo Derani in the Action Express Racing Cadillac and Katherine Legge in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura led the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s first practice around Belle Isle Raceway in Detroit.
Derani, who took pole here last year driving the Nissan DPi for the now-defunct ESM Racing team, eclipsed that time by some 1.7sec as the Michelins made their mark on the 2.35-mile 14-turn course.
The Brazilian set a 1min20.583sec in the #31 Cadillac DPi-V.R to better the best effort of Helio Castroneves in the #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 by a quarter-second.
Filipe Albuquerque in the second AXR Cadillac, the #5 car, was third ahead of the second Acura of Dane Cameron.
Jordan Taylor was fifth-fastest in the WTR Cadillac, one second off the ultimate pace, with Colin Braun sixth in the CORE autosport-run Nissan DPi.
Tristan Vautier and Simon Trummer were seventh and eighth in the JDC Miller Motorsports Cadillacs, but the squad had a torrid 90-minute session.
Trummer struck the wall causing the first red flag, while Vautier’s teammate Misha Goikhberg also caused a red when he went into the tires – an incident that also involved Matt Plumb in Compass Racing’s beautiful McLaren 720S.
Neither of the Mazda Team Joest RT24-Ps set a time at all during the session.
Legge’s top time in the MSR Acura NSX GT3 was a quarter-second ahead of last year’s GT Daytona polesitter, Bryan Sellers in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
Zachary Robichon’s best effort in the Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R was a mere 0.037sec slower and 0.36sec clear of Richard Heistand in the #14 AIM Vasser-Sullivan Lexus RC F.
Session results:
| Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 |  Felipe Nasr Pipo Derani | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'20.583 | |
| 2 | 7 | Helio Castroneves  Ricky Taylor | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'20.835 | 0.252 |
| 3 | 5 |  Joao Barbosa Filipe Albuquerque | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'21.446 | 0.863 |
| 4 | 6 | Dane Cameron  Juan Pablo Montoya | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'21.484 | 0.901 |
| 5 | 10 |  Renger van der Zande Jordan Taylor | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'21.633 | 1.050 |
| 6 | 54 | Jon Bennett Colin Braun | DPi | Nissan DPi | 1'21.746 | 1.163 |
| 7 | 85 |  Mikhail Goikhberg  Tristan Vautier | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'22.017 | 1.434 |
| 8 | 84 |  Simon Trummer  Stephen Simpson | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'22.029 | 1.446 |
| 9 | 50 | Will Owen Victor Franzoni | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'23.562 | 2.979 |
| 10 | 57 |  Katherine Legge  Christina Nielsen | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'30.304 | 9.721 |
| 11 | 48 | Bryan Sellers Ryan Hardwick | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'30.547 | 9.964 |
| 12 | 73 | Patrick Long Zacharie Robichon | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'30.584 | 10.001 |
| 13 | 14 | Richard Heistand Jack Hawksworth | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'30.947 | 10.364 |
| 14 | 96 | Bill Auberlen Robby Foley | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'30.949 | 10.366 |
| 15 | 86 | Trent Hindman  Mario Farnbacher | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'30.981 | 10.398 |
| 16 | 44 | John Potter Andy Lally | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'31.310 | 10.727 |
| 17 | 8 | Parker Chase Ryan Dalziel | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 1'31.368 | 10.785 |
| 18 | 63 | Cooper MacNeil  Toni Vilander | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'31.545 | 10.962 |
| 19 | 76 | Paul Holton Matt Plumb | GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 1'31.757 | 11.174 |
| 20 | 12 | Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'31.786 | 11.203 |
| 21 | 74 | Gar Robinson Lawson Aschenbach | GTD | Mercedes-AMG | 1'31.897 | 11.314 |
| 22 | 55 | Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell | DPi | Mazda DPi | ||
| 23 | 77 | Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez | DPi | Mazda DPi | ||
| View full results | ||||||
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About this article
| Series | IMSA |
| Event | Detroit |
| Drivers | Pipo Derani , Katherine Legge |
| Author | David Malsher-Lopez |
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