With the prospect of heavy rain on Saturday and mixed conditions for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday, Friday practice was precious time on a dry track. Teams made the most of a pair of one-hour free practice sessions to work on setups and prepare drivers for the upcoming six-hour enduro at Watkins Glen International.

Oswaldo Negri Jr. set the pace in the Prototype class in both the morning and afternoon sessions in the agile No. 60 Ligier JS P2 Honda of Michael Shank Racing (“Shank the Lone Ranger”), touring the 11-turn, 3.4-mile circuit in 1:38.055. The No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP driven by Ricky Taylor was second quickest in the first practice at 1:38.992, followed by the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Joao Barbosa at 1:39.235. In the second session Christian Fittipaldi put the No. 5 Corvette DP second on the timing sheet at 1:38.740.

Antonio Garcia was at the head of the GTLM class in the first session with the No. 3 Corvette C7.R. The Corvette ace wasted no time putting the rented race car in charge at Watkins Glen International with a fast lap at 1:44.284.

Garcia led a one-two for Corvette Racing as teammate and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Oliver Gavin was second quickest at 1:44.479 in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R. Bill Auberlen hustled the No. 25 BMW Team RLL Z4 GTE to the third quickest time in GTLM at 1:44.4976, followed by Pierre Kaffer in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia.

With higher temperatures prevailing in the afternoon session, John Edwards (winner in the preceding round for GTLM at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) was quickest in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL Z4 GTE in the closing seconds of the session. Garcia kept the pressure on with a 1:44.189 that was second quickest, while Auberlen was third in the No. 25 BMW.

Kuno Wittmer made a triumphant return to the TUDOR Championship after an enforced absence when the factory Viper program in GTLM folded at the end of last season. The Canadian put the No. 007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage at the head of the GT Daytona class in the first session at 1:48.832 atop a trio of Porsche 911 GT Americas. Leh Keen was the top gun in GTD in the afternoon session in the No. 22 Porsche 911 GT America at 1:48.984.

Colin Braun was quickest in the Prototype Challenge class in the morning in the No. 54 CORE Autosport ORECA FLM09 at 1:40.815, while Renger van der Zande ran the best lap in the afternoon in the No. 8 at 1:41.471.

The final one-hour practice session for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is scheduled for Saturday morning, with qualifying getting underway at 3:40 p.m. ET.