Penske Acura tops both Sebring practice sessions

#7 Acura led both sessions

Helio Castroneves led the way in opening practice for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Thursday.

The Brazilian reeled off a quick lap of 1:48.237 in his No. 7 Team Penske Acura ARX-05, edging out the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi-V.R of Tristan Vautier by 0.150 seconds.

In the 2nd practice session Acura Team Penske topped the time charts again, this time with Ricky Taylor at the wheel, in Thursday’s second practice session, which came to an early end due to a heavy accident.

Taylor reeled off a 1:47.841 in the No. 7 Acura ARX-05, nearly one-second clear of the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P of Jonathan Bomarito, who ended up second quickest overall.

The session was halted with 11 minutes remaining when Justin Marks had an apparent failure in his No. 93 Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 and slammed heavily into the tire barriers.

Marks appeared uninjured as he climbed from the car, but with the car sustaining extensive nose damage and barrier repairs required.

IMSA officials decided to throw the checkered flag early as a result.

Richard Westbrook led the way for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, while the No. 15 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth quickest in GT Daytona.

Night practice gets underway at 7:35 p.m. ET.

RESULTS: Practice 2

RESULTS: Practice 1