IMSA / Laguna Seca - FP1 : Campbell powers #7 Porsche to top

Bright California sunshine on Friday provided a shimmering backdrop to a busy opening IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice ahead of Sunday’s Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N. When the 90-minute session took the checkered flag, Matt Campbell sat atop the leaderboard in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.

Colin Braun set the standard early with a lap of 1 minute, 17.019 seconds (104.607 mph) in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 that stood until Campbell’s 1:16.703 (105.038 mph) flyer with five minutes to go at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

“It was good,” Campbell said of the lap in the No. 7 that he shares with Felipe Nasr. “I only drove the last 20 minutes of the session. Felipe did a lot at the beginning and then I just jumped in. I just got some mileage at the end, so feeling comfortable and that’s the main thing heading into tomorrow.”

“For me, the first time here in a prototype so very different obviously to what I’m used to, but very enjoyable,” Campbell added. “Now we’ve got a lot to go through tonight – the session was very late today – to get ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow’s a big day with final practice and qualifying.”

Braun’s early lap held up for second overall. Mathieu Jaminet was third in the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 at 1:17.115 (104.477 mph). Jaminet and co-driver Nick Tandy are coming off a win last month at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, giving Porsche its first GTP victory and making it three different manufacturers to win the first three races of the new top prototype era, following Acura and Cadillac.

The lone substantial incident of Friday’s practice occurred less than 20 minutes in when Sebastien Bourdais ran wide over the curbs approaching Turn 6, lost control of the No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R and slid into the tire barrier. Bourdais walked away from the crash but the Chip Ganassi Racing-prepared car sustained significant right-side damage and was finished for the session.

Other class leaders in practice were: Louis Deletraz in Le Mans Prototype 2, 1:17.897 (103.428 mph) in the No. 8 Tower Motorsports Oreca LMP2 07; Frankie Montecalvo in GT Daytona (GTD), 1:24.796 (95.013 mph) in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3; and Ben Barnicoat in GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), 1:25.020 (94.763 mph) in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

In a few hours, the second free practice session will take place, followed by qualifying, which can be viewed live on Endurance-Info.

Free Practice 1 :