6H of Watkins Glen, EL1: Fastest Acura/Meyer Shank Racing

The first free practice for the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, which will take place this Sunday across the Atlantic, was held on Friday evening.

The New York State track no longer holds any secrets for certain drivers who came to test on May 26, like Colin Braun who set the first time reference of the weekend in 1: 33.653 driving the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06. Tom Blomqvist’s team-mate set his best time at the start of the hour-and-a-half session and held off the competition in the GTP class by more than a second, starting with the no.7 Porsche 963 of the duo Campbell/ Nasr (1.229s), followed by sister car #6 of the Tandy/Jaminet duo. The two Cadillac V-Series R n°01/Cadillac Racing (+1.618 s) and n°31 from Action Express Racing (1.691 s) follow in the hierarchy, while the BMW M Hybrid V8s bring up the rear 2 seconds behind delay.

Other class leaders were Mikkel Jensen in the no11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 in LMP2, with a lap of 1:36.066; Garett Grist in the #30 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 in LMP3 (1:41.139); Bryan Sellers on the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 in GT Daytona (1:46.457); and Daniel Serra in the #62 Ferrari 296 GT3 Risi Competizione in GTD PRO (1:46.552).

Note that the rain arrived in the middle of the session, jeopardizing the downward trend in the times. A final practice session will take place at 2 p.m. before qualifying at 7:20 p.m. (French time).