(Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — As the checkered flag came out to conclude Practice 2 ahead of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, Colin Braun raced to the line and recorded the quickest lap of the session at 1:32:311.
Braun set the quickest time in Practice 1 on Friday at over a second slower. He practiced the car in both the wet and the dry on Friday before turning the car over to co-driver Tom Blomqvist. On Saturday, Blomqvist started in the car and drove the majority of the session before handing it back to Braun. It’s the second consecutive year that Meyer Shank Racing swept the practice sessions at Watkins Glen International.
Connor De Phillippi of the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL machine ended just four one-thousandths slower than Braun, recording a time of 1:32:315. The other BMW M Team car, the No. 25, had the third quickest time at 1:32:574.
The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport car had the quickest time for most of the session with fast laps from both Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque. The car won last year’s race at Watkins Glen in DPi.
(Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
Will Stevens recorded the fastest time in LMP2 for the No. 8 Tower Motorsports car at 1:36:458. Wayne Boyd recorded the fastest time in LMP3 for the No. 17 AWA car at 1:40:795. Frankie Montecalvo laid down a lap of 1:45:320 to pace GTD in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan car and Jordan Pepper had a quick time of 1:46:533 to lead GTD Pro for Iron Lynx.
The second practice session had two stoppages. With about 50 minutes remaining, the No. 13 AWA Duqueine LMP3 car driven by Orey Fidani crashed in Turn 7 and brought out a red flag. Officials pushed the car back and it returned to pit road under its own power.
About 12 minutes later, another red flag came out as the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing GTD car driven by Bryan Sellers and the No. 20 High Class Racing LMP2 car driven by Mark Kvamme crashed in Turn 6. The No. 20 car hit the tire barrier and suffered heavy rear-end damage and got brought back to the paddock by a wrecker. The No. 1 car hit the Armco barrier and suffered front-end damage and returned to pit road.
The No. 35 TDS Racing LMP2 car that crashed in practice on Friday made repairs and returned to the track on Saturday. It placed 17th overall and eighth in the class with Josh Pierson recording its quickest lap.
The WeatherTech Championship will qualify later in the day on Saturday at 1:20 p.m. ET. Practice 2 was completed in dry conditions, although rain may affect qualifying.
