While Riley Dickinson may have led the times at Watkins Glen International today in Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America practice, Michael McCann and Jason Hart again showed they expect to be strong podium contenders.
Dickinson stopped the clock this afternoon at 1 minute, 48.336 seconds – more than a second faster than what he achieved for Kellymoss in the corresponding session 12 months ago.
Michael McCann’s recent run of podium finishes were certainly not just down to luck – the 27-year-old today set the second-fastest time of the day for McCann Racing followed by Jason Hart in third.
Hart finished third in the second race of the season before encountering two tough weekends at Long Beach and Miami.
“It was a great day for us today, although I’m not really sure if this is a great measuring stick considering what the weather in the area might bring.
“It was more of a confidence morale boost than anything else. But lots of laps and data is data to help us keep moving forward. We’ll go on into qualifying with some confidence and see what we can get done.”
Tom Sargent, Michael McCarthy, and series newcomer Michael Cooper filled out the remainder of the top six. Cooper – a three-time World Challenge champion – is making his series debut in the Accelerating Performance entry driven in Miami by series veteran Kay van Berlo.
Efrin Castro led the Pro-Am times ahead of series returnee PJ Hyett – doubling up this weekend competing in Carrera Cup and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Hyett’s AO Racing squad continued to be a fan favorite at Le Mans with their “Rexy” dinosaur livery. The livery returns to IMSA competition on Sunday for the six hour enduro event.
MDK Racing’s Scott Noble set the pace today in the Am class – heading John Goetz and teammate Mark Kvamme. The championship leader Kvamme is also back in Carrera Cup action after competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in an LMP2 car.
Qualifying is up next at 8:35 am on Friday morning, followed by race one at 1:25 pm.
