IMSA Mid-Ohio: Montoya puts Acura on top in first practice
Acura Team Penske’s Juan Pablo Montoya’s was fastest in opening practice for this weekend's Mid-Ohio IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round, almost a quarter of a second up on the Action Express Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani.
The #6 Acura ARX-05 of reigning IMSA champions Montoya and Dane Cameron lapped the 2.358-mile road course in 1min13.057sec to beat the #31 Cadillac by 0.236sec, while Ricky Taylor was just 0.009sec further back in the second Acura.
A late improvement from Harry Tincknell saw him beat Mazda teammate Oliver Jarvis by 0.02sec to land P4, albeit over half a second off the lead Acura.
Meanwhile the two JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillacs sandwiched the similar car of championship leader Renger van der Zande in the Wayne Taylor Racing entry.
In GT Le Mans, which comprises just four cars following Porsche’s withdrawal, Antonio Garcia was 0.3sec faster than Corvette Racing teammate Tommy Milner. The two BMW M8s were 0.84 and 1.28sec were off the pace.
In fact, Bruno Spengler’s M8 was less than 1sec faster than the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 of Bill Auberlen which topped GT Daytona.
Behind Auberlen by a mere 0.056sec was Jack Hawksworth in the faster of the two AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC Fs, with Alvaro Parente third in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ahead of Pat Long’s Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R and Lawson Aschenbach in the Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3.
The #30 Audi R8 of Hardpoint Racing, driven by Rob Ferriol and Spencer Pumpelly, did not take part in the session due to a technical problem.
Tomorrow’s practice session begins at 10.55am local (Eastern) time, with qualifying not being held until Sunday (raceday) morning.
Session results:
| Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 |  Juan Pablo Montoya  Dane Cameron | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'13.057 | |
| 2 | 31 |  Felipe Nasr Pipo Derani | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'13.293 | 0.236 |
| 3 | 7 | Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'13.302 | 0.245 |
| 4 | 55 | Jonathan Bomarito  Harry Tincknell | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'13.598 | 0.541 |
| 5 | 77 | Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'13.618 | 0.561 |
| 6 | 5 |  Joao Barbosa  Sébastien Bourdais | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'13.739 | 0.682 |
| 7 | 10 |  Renger van der Zande  Ryan Briscoe | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'13.950 | 0.893 |
| 8 | 85 | Tristan Vautier Gabriel Aubry | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'14.561 | 1.504 |
| 9 | 3 |  Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor | GTLM | Corvette C8.R | 1'19.690 | 6.633 |
| 10 | 4 | Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner | GTLM | Corvette C8.R | 1'19.991 | 6.934 |
| 11 | 24 |  Jesse Krohn John Edwards | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'20.527 | 7.470 |
| 12 | 25 |  Bruno Spengler Connor de Phillippi | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'20.966 | 7.909 |
| 13 | 96 | Bill Auberlen Robby Foley | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'21.861 | 8.804 |
| 14 | 14 | Jack Hawksworth Aaron Telitz | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'21.917 | 8.860 |
| 15 | 57 | Alvaro Parente Mikhail Goikhberg | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'21.993 | 8.936 |
| 16 | 16 | Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'22.224 | 9.167 |
| 17 | 74 | Gar Robinson Lawson Aschenbach | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'22.226 | 9.169 |
| 18 | 86 |  Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'22.271 | 9.214 |
| 19 | 12 | Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'22.278 | 9.221 |
| 20 | 76 | Corey Fergus Paul Holton | GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 1'22.315 | 9.258 |
| 21 | 44 | Andy Lally John Potter | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'22.325 | 9.268 |
| 22 | 23 | Ian James Roman De Angelis | GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'23.038 | 9.981 |
| 23 | 22 | Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'23.284 | 10.227 |
| 24 | 30 | Rob Ferriol Spencer Pumpelly | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 0.000 | |
| View full results | ||||||
Previous article
GM restructures its motorsports operations with two new hires
Next article
IMSA Mid-Ohio: Castroneves leads van der Zande in FP2
About this article
| Series | IMSA |
| Event | Mid-Ohio |
| Author | David Malsher-Lopez |
24 Hours of Daytona Video Recap
24 Hours of Daytona: Fourth Place for Ferrari
Watch the entire Rolex 24 in just over a minute
The GTE dilemma that IMSA has created for the WEC
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s decision to scrap its GT Le Mans class for 2022 raises the question of whether the FIA World Endurance Championship should phase out GTE cars. But it's a much harder decision than it appears on the surface.
Nine things to watch at the 2021 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona
After a 100-minute sprint race to whet the appetite, the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship gets underway properly this weekend. With plenty of significant changes during the winter, here are the key points you need to keep an eye on
Why Magnussen is relishing a fresh start in sportscars
Having gone over seven years without a race win through spells with McLaren, Renault and Haas, Kevin Magnussen's departure from Formula 1 for IMSA with big-hitters Chip Ganassi Racing could give him what he craves most - a chance of success
Oliver Gavin's Corvette Racing highlights
Oliver Gavin has stepped down from the full-time Corvette Racing line-up after a stellar career with the team spanning nearly 20 years. He looks back on a stint that encompassed, among other successes, five Le Mans 24 Hours victories.
How Tandy joined an exclusive club of endurance legends
Victory at last year's Spa 24 Hours meant Nick Tandy had completed the unofficial sextuple crown of the world's six biggest endurance races, becoming the first Briton to do so. Ahead of his fresh start with Corvette Racing, he explains how he did it…
The 12 greatest Sebring 12 Hours ranked
The 2020 edition of the Florida sportscar classic is finally taking place this weekend, eight months after its traditional date in March. That meant there was plenty of time for Motorsport.com to pour over its previous 67 races and select the best.
Tony Kanaan’s top 10 races – in his own words
The 2004 IndyCar champion and 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan probably hasn’t yet driven his final IndyCar race, but we still asked him for the 10 most significant races of his career. He explained his choices to David Malsher-Lopez.
Why the GTE ruleset looks to have run its course
The GTE ruleset has served sportscar racing in both Europe and the United States well over the past decade. But now there are clear signs that the end of its life is in sight as manufacturer support continues to fade.
