BMW M Team WRT’s Dries Vanthoor topped the timesheets in final IMSA WeatherTech Championship practice at Long Beach which was disrupted by three red flags.
The 90-minute session on the tight, unforgiving 1.968-mile Long Beach Street Circuit unfolded under clear California skies, with temperatures hovering around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, providing ideal conditions for teams to fine-tune setups ahead of Saturday’s qualifying and race.
From the drop of the green flag, the GTP and GTD protagonists wasted no time pushing their hybrid prototypes and GT3 machinery to the limit, but a series of incidents turned what could have been a straightforward run into a stop-start drama that tested drivers’ patience.
As the clock ticked into the early stages of the session, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Kévin Estre unleashed a blistering lap of 1:12.742 in the No. 6 Porsche 963 which remained as provisional benchmark for the better part of the afternoon.
Just seconds later, however, chaos ensued when Rory van der Steur in the No. 19 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo clipped the unforgiving Turn 1 barriers and shed a wing mirror onto the track, leading to the first red flag of the session.
Van der Steur managed to limp back to the pits under his own power, but the incident came at a cost—his team will forfeit the car’s fastest lap in upcoming qualifying as per IMSA rules.
Moments later, Colin Braun’s No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura plowed into the tire barrier at Turn 8, sustaining moderate left-front damage that triggered the second red flag. Braun climbed out of the wreckage unscathed.
Heinrich tops IMSA Long Beach practice 1 for JDC‑Miller Motorsports
Estre’s marker held firm after the running resumed, but the battle intensified as BMW M Team WRT‘s duo began to assert dominance.
Dries Vanthoor in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 methodically built his rhythm around the 11-turn layout and ultimately unleashed a stunning 1:12.284 lap that would stand unchallenged for the remainder of the session.
Meanwhile, Jack Aitken’s final effort in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R fell short by a razor-thin 0.046s and had to settle for second, while Nick Yelloly kept the MSR charge alive in third aboard the No. 93 Acura ARX-06.
Estre’s No. 6 Porsche finished fourth as the No. 25 WRT BMW of Marco Wittmann rounded out the top five.
Shifting to GTD, the No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 dominated proceedings thanks to Frankie Montecalvo’s impressive 1:18.654, pipping teammate Aaron Telitz’s No. 12 Lexus by just 0.001 seconds.
Danny Formal’s No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 snagged third, while Robert Wickens, the inspirational hand-control specialist in DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, impressed in fourth.
The GTD ranks buzzed with parity, as AO Racing’s Harry King unfortunately punctuated the session’s finale. With under seven minutes remaining, King’s No. 177 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo spun into Turn 1 barriers, triggering the third red flag which concluded IMSA Long Beach practice 2 prematurely.
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