Aitken puts Cadillac ahead in first Watkins Glen practice

Cadillac Whelen led the opening Free Practice session for the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen with the two Acura Meyer Shank Racing cars in second and third.

Jack Aitken set the fastest time in the red No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R; coming off a disappointing final result at the Le Mans 24 Hours, Aitken set a 1m34.584s to go within four-tenths of the GTP lap record.

Nick Yelloly in the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 set a 1m34.966s to go second fastest, only a few milliseconds quicker than Tom Blomqvist in the blue No. 60 Acura.

GTP championship leader Nick Tandy set the fourth-best time in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, ahead of Louis Deletraz in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

The fastest of the two BMW M Hybrid V8s was the No. 25 Team RLL car of Marco Wittmann, who was within a second of the top. Meanwhile, the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie was 10th ahead of the returning No. 63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63 in 11th.

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The second was brought out after John Farano spun and stalled coming out of Turn 9 in the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA. Otherwise the session was littered with procedural penalties – several drive-throughs were handed out for track limits violations, pit lane infringements, and powertrain parameter compliance.

The No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA went second fastest in LMP2, ahead of the No. 99 AO Racing Spike car with its new gold-plated tail, and the No. 8 Tower Motorsports car.

Andrea Caldarelli and Pfaff Motorsports recorded the fastest time in GTD PRO, as the plaid No. 9 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 set a 1m45.912s to top the session.

Ben Barnicoat spent no time getting back up to speed in his first competitive session since returning from a mountain biking accident in March: He was second fastest in GTD PRO, back aboard the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Then it was Laurin Heinrich in third driving the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, and his former teammate Sebastian Priaulx in the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3, in fourth.

However, the best time across both GT classes was set in GTD, by Scott Andrews in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Australian turned in a 1m45.867s to go quicker than Caldarelli's best GTD PRO time.

The No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R was second quickest in GTD, then, it was the returning No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, third quickest with its humorous new "Virtual Energy" sponsorship. In fourth was the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus.

One car that didn't set a representative time was the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports car. It only posted three installation laps, then underwent a gearbox change as a precaution after the team diagnosed a faulty sensor and saw unpleasant fluid temperature and pressure readings.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship cars return to the track tomorrow for Practice 2 starting at 9:00am ET, followed by qualifying, which starts at 2:20pm ET.

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