The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ran for a full 10 hours on Thursday at Sebring International Raceway. Teams ran a pair of four-hour sessions and one two-hour session at night. Here are a handful of notes, nuggets, nuts and bolts from the first day on-track.

BMW’S NEW JUNIOR DRIVER

BMW has added a new young talent to its roster. Colton Herta, who turns 18 in March, has joined BMW’s Junior driver program and will serve as BMW Team RLL test and reserve driver. We’ll do more on the son of past IndyCar and sports car driver, and two-time Indianapolis 500 winning team owner Bryan Herta, in a separate post.

Got my first taste of the @BMWMotorsport M8 GTE today. Thanks everyone for the opportunity! pic.twitter.com/fpoMueJtl4

— Colton Herta (@ColtonHerta) February 22, 2018

CJ WILSON RACING STEPS UP TO WEATHERTECH

Former Major League Baseball pitcher CJ Wilson has laid the groundwork for his sports car team’s success with multiple championships in support categories over the last half dozen years, and has now made the leap up to the major leagues.

Wilson’s team announced Wednesday during Midweek Motorsport it will run a partial season in the WeatherTech Championship. Marc Miller and Till Bechtolsheimer will share the No. 36 Acura NSX GT3 at the Sebring, Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans races, with other races and drivers to be revealed later.

EXCITING NEWS: @CJWilsonRacing to enter #WeatherTechChampionship with @Acura #NSX #GT3!

Story:https://t.co/jPJBlXmWF6 pic.twitter.com/ETT6z5Bbup

— IMSA (@IMSA) February 21, 2018

PORSCHE, CORVETTE GO THE SINGLE-CAR ROUTE

This may be something to pick up on before the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring occurs next month. Among Michelin technical partner teams, the BMW Team RLL and Ford Chip Ganassi Racing teams have both cars testing here this week. Meanwhile Corvette Racing and Porsche GT Team are only running one apiece. Risi Competizione Ferrari’s single car completes the seven-car GT Le Mans lineup this test.

While Corvette has the No. 4 C7.R of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler present, Porsche has opted to put one driver from each of its two cars in the same car. Nick Tandy comes over from the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR to share the No. 912 car this test with Laurens Vanthoor.

Turn it up ?and release @TommyMilner ?
@sebringraceway @CorvetteRacing @IMSA #C7R #NightLaunch pic.twitter.com/DYey1Kop8N

— Oliver Gavin (@olivergavin) February 23, 2018

Slightly different look for @porschenaracing this test. Nick Tandy shares the No. 912 with Laurens Vanthoor.

A post shared by Michelin Racing USA (@michelinraceusa) on Feb 23, 2018 at 6:45am PST

Testing is crucial from a data gathering standpoint, and it will be interesting to see what Porsche and Corvette have learned with one car this test compared to the teams who have both cars here.

FORD’S LE MANS LINEUPS CONFIRMED

Add Billy Johnson (No. 66) and Tony Kanaan (No. 67) to the pair of Ford Chip Ganassi lineups at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, as third drivers in the FIA World Endurance Championship cars. The remaining lineups had already been announced. Ford’s full Le Mans breakdown is below.

REVEALED! Full driver line ups for the Ford GTs at #LEMANS24:

66:
Mücke ??
Pla ??
Johnson ??
67:
Priaulx ??
Tincknell ??
Kanaan ??
68:
Hand ??
Müller ??
Bourdais ??
69:
Briscoe ??
Westbrook ??
Dixon ?? #GoLikeHell boys! pic.twitter.com/xrhsR5vCKm

— Ford Performance (@FordPerformance) February 22, 2018

A FLY-BY SELFIE

Joey Hand has cast his lot in for “coolest selfie of the week” award, with one captured at Turn 17 during Thursday’s first session as co-driver Dirk Mueller drove past in the No. 66 Ford GT.

Caught a great selfie of me and @dirkmuellerracing. ? #skills #giddyup #humanselfiestick pic.twitter.com/cNxuca9qkA

— Joey Hand Racing (@JoeyHandRacing) February 22, 2018

TEMPERATURE TRACKING

Thursday’s sessions offered a great opportunity for teams to simulate race day at Sebring, with temperatures both ambient and on-track likely close to race temperatures next month.

Here are the updates from Thursday per our Michelin engineers, as this included a night practice for the first time.

Good morning from @sebringraceway! Our #Michelin tire engineers report in near perfect, mid-70s ambient and track temps for first test session of the day. #RespectTheBumps pic.twitter.com/Rgw3gKY3BM

— Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) February 22, 2018

Into the fourth and final hour of the first test session for #WeatherTechChampionship, and temperatures have risen significantly at a sunny @sebringraceway. pic.twitter.com/sKMqJD84d7

— Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) February 22, 2018

Second four-hour session from 2 to 6 p.m. ET underway. Clouds have moved in and track temps have dropped from earlier today at @sebringraceway pic.twitter.com/mHhUNAz1Eo

— Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) February 22, 2018

As we're into the fourth and final hour of Session 2, the clouds have lifted and temperatures have slightly increased at @sebringraceway pic.twitter.com/LgRoMF50WS

— Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) February 22, 2018

The two-hour night session is underway. Temps have cooled from this afternoon as the sun has set at @sebringraceway pic.twitter.com/FjGeMRLpSq

— Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) February 23, 2018

The final hour of night practice, and 10th of 10 hours on the day, is upon us. Temps back in the 70s both ambient and on track at @sebringraceway pic.twitter.com/l6Gmb40ZEz

— Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) February 23, 2018