Three sessions, three leaders Friday at Lime Rock

July 20, 2018

Three sessions, three leaders Friday at Lime Rock

July 20, 2018

The parity of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans class was on full display Friday at Lime Rock Park.

It was a heavy day of activity. The series featured three hours of running crammed into an eight-hour period. This made for a fast Friday at the shortest course on the IMSA calendar, as part of a two-day, GT class-only event.

Ford led the first practice. Corvette topped the second practice. And Porsche saved the fastest lap of the day for last, in the third and final practice session of the day.

With BMW also competitive throughout the day, it’s looking like it could be anyone’s pole position and/or race win in Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix.

The nature of the track, which has six right-hand turns and only one left-hand turn, opens up a wealth of strategic options for Michelin technical partner teams.

That will make Saturday’s pre-race sessions all the more important. There is a warm-up before qualifying, and then the race at 3:15 p.m. ET and local time. Coverage airs live on IMSA Radio and on a slight TV delay at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

Patrick Pilet, who finished fastest on Friday in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR, was nearly as quick in this session as the 2017 pole position time. Gianmaria Bruni set that time at a 50.404-second lap. Pilet’s fastest time at the 1.5-mile road course was 50.414 seconds.

Ford was second in the final practice session with BMW third. The best Corvette was fifth.

It is just the GTLM and GT Daytona class runners in action for the two-hour, 40-minute race. The Prototype class does not run at Lime Rock, nor at VIR.

Porsche won here last year. That marked the first worldwide win for the new 911 RSR.

Corvette remains in search of its 100th win in North America. BMW has split its liveries. And Ford looks for its third straight win this year.

COMBINED PRACTICE RESULTS

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