Heinrich Quickest in Final Watkins Glen Practice

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Laurin Heinrich set the fastest lap in the second practice session for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ahead of qualifying for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

Heinrich, piloting the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963, ended the session atop the leaderboard with a 1:33.398 second lap. The German driver delivered the time in the final five minutes.

The Porsche outran Jack Aitken’s second place time by 0.295 seconds. Three different manufacturers represented the top three spots with Colin Braun placing his No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 in third.

All 54 entries ran competitive laps in the 1 hour, 45 minute session, which saw the first 15 minutes reserved for FIA Bronze-rated drivers only.

The No. 25 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 ended practice tailing the GTP field by 2.036 seconds behind Heinrich’s time.

PJ Hyett set the top LMP2 lap early in practice for AO Racing.

However, his fastest lap in qualifying will be disallowed because of his spin in Turn 7 caused a red flag to end practice early. Jeremy Clarke drove the No. 43 Inter Europol ended the session with the second-fastest time.

Daniel Serra notched the fastest GT time with a 1:45.348 second lap in his No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

Jack Hawksworth recorded the second quickest circuit 0.100 seconds behind in his No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing machine.

Marius Fossard’s 1:45.496 time helped the No. 068 YRB Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo lead both sessions in GTD. Russell Ward piloted the No. 57 Winward Racing entry to the second best time in the category.

The first red flag of the session occurred less than 20 minutes in when Tijmen van der Helm ran off at the exit of Turn 7.

His Porsche 963’s broken wing left debris that needed to be cleaned up. Hyett’s session-ending spin occurred in the final minute of practice.

Qualifying begins at 3:40 p.m. EST and will be streamed live on Peacock and IMSA’s YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Practice 2

Source: Sports Car 365