Connor De Phillippi set a much faster time than anyone else in the first third of practice for the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America, and his time held up well into the final five minutes as his rivals closed the gap. Filipe Albuquerque then led the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti to the top spot with a time of 1m51.089s (131.18mph), 0.411s quicker than De Phillippi’s 1m51.5s lap in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8.

“Not too much,” said Albuquerque, who would have been happy to see the No. 10 car on pole tomorrow for teammate Ricky Taylor’s birthday. “The track was a little tough to drive. We were a lot quicker here testing. I think the track is coming, coming. We did a qualifying simulation with new tires.

“It’s always good to be P1 to tell my mom and friends, but it doesn’t go beyond that.”

Further improvements may have been made in the final minutes as other teams attempted qualifying simulations in hot and humid conditions similar to those they will see tomorrow afternoon, but the session was cut short when Danny Formal’s No. 45 GTD-class WTR Andretti Lamborghini Huracán got stuck in the gravel at Turn 14.

Sebastien Bourdais had the third fastest time of 1m51.666s in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, followed by Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, which won at Road America a year ago. The second WTRandretti Acura completed the top five in the hands of Louis Delétraz.

Paul DiResta led LMP2 for United Autosports, posting a lap of 1m53.486s in the #22 ORECA, equating to an average of 128.41mph on the 4.048-mile track. This time was significantly quicker than the rest of the pack, led by Tom Dillman in the #52 Inter Europol of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, who were 0.607s behind. Ben Hanley was third in the #2 car with a time of 1m54.177s for United Autosports.

Fastest in GTD was Frederik Schandorff, 0.629 seconds quicker than the others and took the lead among all GTD PRO entrants with a time of 2m05.242s (116.36mph) in the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

Antonio Garcia led the GTD PRO field in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R, which won last time out at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Garcia’s lap of 2m05.369s beat the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 driven by Harry Tincknell by 0.219s.

Nicky Catsburg rounded out the top three in the second Corvette with a lap of 2m05.676s, while Laurin Heinrich finished fourth in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, whose co-driver Julien Andlauer later had a minor contact with the track barrier. Bryan Sellers in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 rounded out the top five.

One-sixth of a second behind Schandorff and in ninth place in the GT car overall, Loris Spinelli was second in GTD with a lap of 2m05.871s in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. Patrick Gallagher was third with a lap of 2m05.955s in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. Roman De Angelis (#27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo) and Kenton Koch (#32 Korthoff Preston Motorsport Mercedes AMG) completed the top five in GTD.

In addition to the red flag ending the session, the session was interrupted for five minutes due to Nick Boulle running the No. 52 ORECA off the track at Turn 14, knocking down a trackside sign and leaving some debris on the track.

The second practice session for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Road America will take place tomorrow at 9:55 a.m. local time, 10:55 a.m. ET. It will be the final practice session before the qualifying rounds begin late tomorrow afternoon.

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