| Mid-Ohio Friday Notebook: Derani Tempers Joy After Leading Practice Hardwick, Henderson on Pilot Challenge Poles Dickerson Tops Prototype Challenge Practice Wagner Atop MX-5 Cup Speed Chart May 14, 2021 By Mark Robinson IMSA Wire Service  LEXINGTON, Ohio – Pipo Derani has been down this road before at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course: a quick lap in practice only to be outdone by the competition when it really counts. So, while the co-driver of the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi V.R was happy setting the fastest lap Friday in opening practice for the Acura Sports Car Challenge Presented by the TLX Type S, he’s holding off on celebrating. Acura Sports Car Challenge Presented by the TLX Type S: Practice 1 Results “It feels good, for sure, but I think as we’ve seen here in the past, we’re always quick during practice but come qualifying some of our competitors step up the game,” Derani said after clocking a final lap of 1 minute, 11.846 seconds (113.141 mph) around Mid-Ohio’s tight 2.258-mile circuit. “Part of the job is just focusing on our own and if we do everything we can on our own, we’ll be good.” When Derani mentions “competitors,” he’s referring mainly to the Acuras that have won the last three Mid-Ohio races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class. In fact, the two Acura ARX-05 DPis in this year’s field – the No. 10 Konica Minolta and No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian – trailed just behind the No. 31 on Friday’s leaderboard. Filipe Albuquerque put in a lap of 1:12.221 (112.554 mph) in the No. 10, with Dane Cameron’s best in the No. 60 at 1:12.501 (112.119 mph). “It was lucky,” Derani admitted of his pacesetting circuit. “Just got a clear lap in the end and were able to put a lap in. Always good to have that feeling back after two months away (between races). This is why we do this. The feeling that you have inside the car of pushing it to the limit is just something that you can’t describe. “Great to be back. We’ve had a difficult start to the season but the pleasure behind the wheel is always fantastic. Good start to the weekend.” Colin Braun turned the best lap in Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3), 1:17.240 (105.240 mph), in the No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier JS P320. Jack Hawksworth, the defending GT Daytona (GTD) race champion along with Aaron Telitz in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, topped his class in practice at 1:20.513 (100.962 mph). A second practice is scheduled for 8:50 a.m. ET Saturday, ahead of qualifying at 12:20 p.m. (live stream on IMSA.com). Sunday’s race airs live starting at 2:30 p.m. on NBCSN and IMSA Radio.  Hardwick, Henderson Capture Michelin Pilot Challenge Pole Positions Ryan Hardwick was clearly eager to get behind the wheel again. Forced to miss the first two IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge races this season after sustaining a concussion in a practice crash at Daytona International Speedway in January, Hardwick collected the Motul Pole Award for Saturday’s Mid-Ohio 120 in the Grand Sport (GS) class. MIchelin Pilot Challenge Qualifying Results Hardwick toured Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1:27.021 (93.411 mph) in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport to notch his maiden Pilot Challenge pole. He and co-driver Jan Heylen will start up front, with Chris Green and Kumo Wittmer alongside in the No. 13 AWA McLaren 570S GT4. “Man, I don’t know what to say!” Hardwick said. “First and foremost, I’ve got to thank my team. These guys have worked really hard on our car; this is two poles in a row for this car. I’ve been working really hard since my injury at Daytona, and it means a lot to be able to come back and not only be competitive but to come out on top on the pole. “The lap, it was tough out there. There was a lot of traffic and a lot of people with different speeds, and I just seemed to be stuck behind the wrong car for a long time. I finally got just enough clean air that I was able to put one clean lap together.” Green, subbing for Orey Fidani who remained home this weekend for the birth of his child, qualified second with a lap of 1:27.462. In the Touring Car (TCR) class, the No. 84 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic FK7 TCR made it 3-for-3 in qualifying this season. Brian Henderson won his second straight Motul Pole Award – setting a TCR track record in the process – following the same act by co-driver Robert Noaker in the season opener at Daytona. Henderson’s best lap came with just under five minutes remaining in the 15-minute session. At 1:28.813 (91.526 mph), it held up by 0.441 seconds over Chris Miller in the No. 17 Unitronic JDC Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS SEQ. Henderson broke the old Mid-Ohio record by 0.849 seconds that was set by Britt Casey Jr. in 2018. “Really glad to hear we got the track record out there for our Sabelt Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic Type R race car,” Henderson said. “It was a great lap, the car felt amazing. Thanks to Atlanta Speedwerks; they’ve been working so hard all weekend trying to get the car good for us. Really happy with this result for our team, it’s our third pole in a row.” The two-hour Mid-Ohio 120 will stream live starting at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. IMSA Radio coverage is available on IMSA.com.  Points Leaders Top IMSA Prototype Challenge Practice IMSA Prototype Challenge points leaders Dakota Dickerson and Josh Sarchet set the pace in opening practice ahead of Sunday’s race at Mid-Ohio. Dickerson turned the fastest lap of 1 minute, 17.653 seconds (104.680 mph) in the No. 54 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320 to lead the field of 15 Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) competitors. IMSA Prototype Challenge Practice Results Trent Hindman (No. 7 VOLT Racing with Archangel Ligier) was the only other driver to turn a lap in less than 68 seconds, at 1:17.949 (104.283 mph). Hindman is sharing the car with Alan Brynjolfsson. Dickerson and Sarchet hold a 10-point lead over Moritz Kranz and Laurents Hoerr after two of six races this season. Kranz is driving solo this weekend in the No. 21 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine D08 and was fourth in practice on Friday. In the LMP 3-2 class for previous-generation cars, Lance Willsey was quickest in the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P3 at 1:25.704 (94.847 mph). The Prototype Challenge cars will return for another practice session and qualifying on Saturday. The one-hour, 45-minute race starts at 9:40 a.m. ET Sunday and streams live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.  Wagner Leads Both Practices in Mazda MX-5 Cup Gresham Wagner led both practices Friday in the Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich Tires. The driver of the No. 5 Spark Performance MX-5 turned the overall best lap in the second practice, 1:35.705 (84.935 mph). All 24 competitors who took part in both sessions posted faster laps in the afternoon. MX-5 Cup Combined Practice Results MX-5 Cup rookie Chris Nunes (No. 32 JTR Motorsports Engineering) was second for the day with a lap of 1:36.122 (84.567 mph). Selin Rollan (No. 87 Hixon Motor Sports) ran third (1:36.148, 84.544 mph).Mazda MX-5 Cup will conduct qualifying at 8 a.m. ET Saturday, ahead of the first race of the weekend at 11:15 a.m. The doubleheader concludes with the second race at 11:45 a.m. Sunday. Both races will stream live on IMSA.com and TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. |
