VIR IMSA: Hawksworth’s VS Lexus dominates second practice

The two Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RCFs were at the top of the charts after 10mins, with the GTD Pro car of Jack Hawksworth ahead of Frankie Montecalvo’s GTD example by around 1.1sec with a 1min43.984sec around the 3.27-mile course.

Then Bill Auberlen moved the Turner Motorsport BMW M4 to the top of GTD by half a second before handing over to Robby Foley. After 30mins of the 90min session, Aidan Read had driven the Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX to the top of GTD, 0.092 faster than Auberlen, while Ross Gunn’s Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage was up to fourth overall, second in GTD Pro, but still 0.666sec off Hawksworth’s qualifying simulation in the #14 Lexus.

With 55mins to go, the red flag came out when Ryan Hardwick crahsed the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R at Turn 14. There wasn’t a huge amount of damage – remarkable given the location of the shunt – and he would be able to resume the session.

Five minutes after the red came the green and and Stevan McAleer wasted no time in moving the Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 into third in GTD.

IMSA Radio reported that Paul Miller Racing took its BMW back to the paddock with a floor/diffuser issue, and that NTE/SSR couldn’t even hit the track until 35mins to go because Jaden Conwright detected a rear brake problem as the car was originally heading to pitlane.

Cooper MacNeil in the WeatherTech Mercedes and Matt Campbell in the Pfaff Porsche had off-course excursions at Turn 17 with 25mins to go, while Montecalvo had his GTD Lexus stop temporarily on track at Turn 13 before resuming in a gentle coast to the pits with a possible fuel pump issue.

Conwright drove the NTE/SSR Lambo into fourth in class, just 0.039sec behind Mike Skeen who had improved the Korthoff Mercedes’ best time.

In the final 10mins there were several quali sims happening on track, particularly in GTD Pro, but Connor De Phillippi in the RLL-run BMW M4 was 0.836sec behind Hawksworth’s benchmark, and Antonio Garcia in the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R was 0.914sec down.

That meant Matt Campbell in the Pfaff Porsche was able to beat them both… although he was still almost 0.75sec from top spot.

Thus Hawksworth was top of GTD Pro by 0.666sec ahead of Gunn, with Campbell, De Phillippi and Garcia next. In GTD, Read led Auberlen, Skeen, Conwright and Montecalvo.

Cla	Driver	Class	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat	GTD PRO	Lexus RC F GT3	26	1'43.984
2	Ryan Eversley Aidan Read	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	38	1'44.518	0.534
3	Robby Foley Bill Auberlen	GTD	BMW M4 GT3	43	1'44.610	0.626
4	Ross Gunn Alex Riberas	GTD PRO	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	38	1'44.650	0.666
5	Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet	GTD PRO	Porsche 911 GT3 R	32	1'44.726	0.742
6	Connor de Phillippi John Edwards	GTD PRO	BMW M4 GT3	37	1'44.820	0.836
7	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor	GTD PRO	Corvette C8.R GTD	40	1'44.898	0.914
8	Mike Skeen Stevan McAleer	GTD	Mercedes AMG GT3	36	1'44.940	0.956
9	Jaden Conwright Marco Holzer	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	14	1'44.979	0.995
10	Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	30	1'45.114	1.130
11	Robert Megennis Jeff Westphal	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	32	1'45.338	1.354
12	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow	GTD	BMW M4 GT3	17	1'45.399	1.415
13	Russell Ward Philip Ellis	GTD	Mercedes AMG GT3	35	1'45.439	1.455
14	Roman De Angelis Maxime Martin	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	32	1'45.584	1.600
15	Cooper MacNeil Jules Gounon	GTD	Mercedes AMG GT3	35	1'45.679	1.695
16	Ryan Hardwick Jan Heylen	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	35	1'45.740	1.756
17	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	37	1'45.835	1.851
18	John Potter Andy Lally	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	43	1'46.285	2.301
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