Van der Linde Tops Second Sebring Practice for BMW

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Sheldon van der Linde took BMW M Team RLL to the top of the time charts in the second practice session of the weekend at Sebring International Raceway.

Van der Linde in the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 reeled off a 1:47.884 lap time late in the 90-minute session to edge out the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist by 0.114 seconds.

Matt Campbell was third on the time charts in the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963, followed by teammate Felipe Nasr and the No. 24 BMW of Dries Vanthoor, who completed the top-five.

The No. 93 MSR Acura of Renger van der Zande was sixth, followed by the pair of Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.Rs of Ricky Taylor and Louis Deletraz.

The No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 of Romain Grosjean was ninth on the time charts, while Ross Gunn put the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie 13th on the overall time sheets, although was 2.2 seconds off the pace.

LMP2 was led by the 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of Mikkel Jensen, ahead of Kaku Ohta in the No. 18 Era Motorsport entry.

Defending GTD Pro champion Laurin Heinrich was quickest in GTD Pro in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, which was four-tenths clear of Kenton Koch’s No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Meredes-AMG GT3 Evo, which led GTD.

The session came to an early end with four minutes to go when Brendan Iribe spun and made contact with the Turn 13 barriers in his Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.

Fifty-four of the 56 entries set times in the 90-minute session, which saw the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 nor the No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports Oreca set times.

The Pratt Miller Oreca is understood to be battling mechanical issues, while the WTR Lamborghini was undergoing repairs from Danny Formal’s accident in the opening session and is expected to be repaired in time for night practice, which runs from 7:45-9:15 p.m. EST.

RESULTS: Practice 2