Nasr opens IMSA weekend on top for Porsche at Laguna Seca

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship cars took to the track for the first time this afternoon at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where GTP Championship leader Felipe Nasr led the way for Porsche.

With less than 15 minutes left in the opening 90-minute practice session, Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 took the top spot with his best lap of 1m14.638s. That was enough to dislodge the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R from first place. Jack Aitken turned in a 1m14.950s in the opening minutes, then settled into the rest of the testing program for himself and Frederik Vesti. Aitken’s time held up for second place.

Not far behind the Cadillac was the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL Hybrid V8, which set a 1m14.961s in the hands of the German veteran Marco Wittmann — good for third. Co-driver Sheldon van der Linde had a close call at Rainey Curve near the end, but drove out of the gravel without any damage.

The two Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs showed good pace, in fourth and fifth, with the blue No. 10 of Ricky Taylor ahead of the silver No. 40 of Louis Deletraz — setting top times of 1m15.071s and 1m15.169s respectively.

WTR’s No. 10 Cadillac did have to go behind the wall for an extended portion of practice due to a mechanical issue, with particular attention focused on the front of the car.

There was a red flag just past half-time in the session — coming after Colin Braun spun off exiting the corkscrew, over to the right and head-on into the concrete wall approaching Rainey Curve. It was an uncommon error for Braun, but he was able to drive the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 back to the pits for repairs.

Remarkably, those repairs were quick to execute and Tom Blomqvist took the car back on track to complete the session. In the meantime, course maintenance workers went to work repairing the dislodged barriers. It took less than ten minutes to put everything back in place and get the track ready to continue practice.

Just 1.5s covered the entire GTP field and, encouragingly, Ross Gunn’s best time in the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie was enough to dislodge the V12-powered Hypercar from the bottom of the order.

GTD PRO was led by AO Racing and “Roxy,” the pink No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Laurin Heinrich’s best time of 1m21.418s was more than 0.5s up on the next-fastest car in its class.

In second place was the No. 3 Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R — Antonio Garcia led his fellow Spaniard, Albert Costa, in the third-placed No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3.

Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Pratt Miller Corvette was fourth-fastest, followed by Dan Harper in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Robby Foley set the early pace in GTD, turning in a 1m21.920s to lead the way in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW.

Frederik Schandorff was second-fastest in class driving the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, followed by the No. 23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari of Riccardo Agostini in third.

Agostini’s co-driver Onofrio Triarsi spun off at Turn 4 during his turn behind the wheel, and other GTD drivers had their own off-track excursions — Forte Racing’s Misha Goikhberg, Triarsi’s Sheena Monk in the No. 021 Ferrari and Vasser Sullivan GTD PRO driver Aaron Telitz also took trips through the sand.

GTD points leader Philip Ellis was fourth-quickest in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Practice two starts Saturday morning at 9:55 a.m. PT (local time).

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