Out of the expected 55 cars to hit the grid in next weekend’s third championship round, 31 participated in Saturday’s Free Practice 1; eleven P2 class and 20 GT3 cars.
At 108 °F (42 °C) track temperature, the session took place under difficult circumstances, with the track surface being very slippery. Consequently, a number of cars were seen spinning or go off the track into the gravel to kick up dust and dirt at the Californian racetrack.
Reigning 24 Hours of Daytona champions, the No. 747 Dallara P217 of Lone Wolf Motorsports proved to be too much to handle once again for the competition, as they showed the strongest pace and best adaptability to the difficult conditions, posting a fastest lap of 1:11.744.
Only one other team managed to break the 1:12 barrier – Fischer Motorsport USA’s No. 14 Dallara P217. The US branch of the German organization has its headquarters in California and the Birnie brothers, Jason and Kyle Birnie call San José their hometown, making this the team’s home track race. On Saturday, they had to settle for second place on the speed chart at a very respectable 1:11.835, merely one tenth off the pace of the leaders.
The No. 63 P2 Prototype of Z-Challenger Calioth Racing rounded out the top-three in the P2 class, as the team continues its upward trend since a very problem-filled and headline-making debut at Daytona back in January.
Sebring’s race winner, the No. 11 of Race4CAT Motorsport posted the sixth fastest lap at 1:13.037.
Overall, the P2 class lap times were spread out a little more than usual this time, with only the top four running within one second.
Darrian Roy, driver of the No. 2 P2 Prototype entry of FR13DA Sports group provided his view of the session and track conditions:
“I felt ok out there. The pace is there but the setup wasn’t currently. I think that’s probably why a lot of teams were struggling out there or having some issues. Plus, these hot track conditions add another factor, obviously, when you’re trying to tweak the setup.”
“But the No. 2 Dallara P217 felt great. As a team, we still have some work to do, but I know we can achieve our goal and run really well here.”, explained Roy.
In GT3 class, a familiar name rang in the announcement on the fastest lap of the day: The No. 13 Meguiars Porsche 911 GT3 R of FR13DA Sports Group at a dominant lap time of 1:19.659. The team was the lone one in GT3 class to break the 1:20 barrier on Saturday, as Jayden Dixon once again proved to be one of the top drivers in the GT3 class championship this year.
Dutch Sim Racing Team’s No. 52 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo, who just recently made their series debut in the 12 Hours of Sebring and immediately went on to finish in sixth place, posted the second-fastest lap time in GT3 on Saturday at 1:20.095, already four tenths of a second behind.
Fach Auto Tech Simracing and their No. 396 Porsche team finally had reason to smile, after a difficult couple of weeks following an abysmal run at Sebring, rounding out the top-three in the session at a fastest lap of 1:20.312.
Sebring race winners No. 27 BMW of Twenty7 Motorsport proved that they are to be reckoned with at Laguna Seca, setting the fourth-fastest lap time on the day at 1:20.341.
Overall, GT3 class lap times were spread out more than usual, with the slowest lap times being about three seconds off the pace from the leaders.
“We think the track is going to be really slick for most of the race.”, No. 94 FASTR eSports Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo driver David Sluiter said after the session concluded.
“Our race engineers are trying to make the car more stable through the faster corners which means you give up some corner speed. But we’re not really too concerned. Our team is using this season as mostly a learning experience. So, as long as we finish the race, it’ll be a good race in our book.”, Sluiter added.
The next Free Practice session will take place on Thursday 17:00 GMT. The Monterey Sports Car Challenge, Round 3 of the 2020 VSCA SportsCar Championship will go over a distance of two hours and 40 minutes and is scheduled for Saturday, April 23rd at 16:00 GMT.
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