Olivier Pla was quickest in a rain-affected practice session prior to Friday’s WeatherTech 240 at The Glen.

The Frenchman reeled off a best lap of 1:48.813 in his No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 to outpace the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Renger van der Zande by 0.140 seconds in the one-and-only session prior to qualifying this evening.

Van der Zande’s time came after his co-driver Kevin Magnussen suffered an accident at the Bus Stop chicane, which brought out one of three red flags in the incident-filled session.

A stoppage for the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P of Oliver Jarvis and spin for the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Jarett Andretti were the causes of the two other red flags.

The majority of the quickest times up front came in the closing minutes as the 3.4-mile circuit began to dry out following a heavy downpour that affected the majority of the session.

Ricky Taylor ended up third quickest in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi, followed by Felipe Nasr and Harry Tincknell, who completed the top-five for Action Express Racing and Mazda, respectively.

Harry Tincknell led the way in a rain-delayed and shortened opening practice session for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Road America.

The No. 55 Mazda RT24-P topped the 30-minute session with a best lap of 2:09.769, outpacing DPi championship leader Filipe Albuquerque by 0.399 seconds.

Kevin Magnussen was third quickest overall in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R., meanwhile.

The No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Mikkel Jensen led LMP2, while Oliver Askew put Andretti Autosport’s Ligier JS P320 Nissan atop the time charts in LMP3.

Laurens Vanthoor was the quickest GT car in the rain-soaked session in his No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, which was faster than GT Le Mans class pace-setter Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

Practice started nearly an hour late after lightning in the area forced the stoppage of on-track activity around 3:30 p.m. CT prior to the arrival of heavy thunderstorms that washed out both Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America qualifying.

The delay stretched into the scheduled start of WeatherTech Championship practice at 5:10 p.m., with IMSA giving the go-ahead for a 30-minute session that ran from 6-6:30 p.m.

A total of 30 of the 35 cars turned laps.

The final and only other currently scheduled practice session for series’ competitors is scheduled for 8:55 a.m. CT on Saturday.

Cadillac has announced that it will enter the LMDh prototype formula in 2023 with a Dallara-based car that will be run by Action Express Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing. The General Motors brand declared on Tuesday that it will maintain its presence in top-level sports car racing with the development of a GM-engined, spec-hybrid LMDh in partnership with Dallara, which is one of the four licensed base chassis constructors.

The two organizations teamed up in 2017 to build the double IMSA championship-winning Cadillac DPi-V.R for the North American sanctioning body’s current DPi regulations, using the Dallara P217 LMP2 car as a frame. Cadillac’s official commitment after months of speculation brings a fifth manufacturer into LMDh following prior announcements from Acura, Audi, Porsche and BMW.

The company has said that it plans to enter the car in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship – including the 24 Hours of Le Mans – from 2023.

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Ricky Taylor believes the “pressure is definitely on” in the DPi title race, which sees the top-three teams separated by just 43 points heading into the final three rounds of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Taylor and Wayne Taylor Racing co-driver Filipe Albuquerque have maintained their lead in the championship since their win in the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona in January although have seen it gradually reduced in recent races.

A fourth place finish at Road America saw their advantage slip to 41 points over Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr, who head to this weekend’s round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca seeking their third consecutive win.

Mazda’s Harry Tincknell and Oliver Jarvis also gained points on the Acura duo in Road America and sit just two points behind Derani and Nasr.

“The pressure has been going up and up throughout the year,” said Taylor. “Obviously we started off with a great first couple of races and got into a pretty comfortable points lead.

“Forty-one points in the past few years sounds like a lot but this year it’s nothing. It’s four points from what we’re used to hearing.

“It’s super tight. The pressure is definitely on in the final three [DPi] races of the year.

“It’s going to be a really tough end of the year but Laguna, for the Acura is super strong, and it should be a race that we should hopefully be able to capitalize.

“I think we said that at Road America and unfortunately it didn’t go quite our way and we lost some points.

“But I think Filipe and I and the team are super excited to get to Laguna.”

Taylor, who along with Helio Castroneves won at Laguna Seca last year with Acura Team Penske, with the WTR drivers hoping to translate the 2020 success with the car into their first win since the third round of the season at Mid-Ohio in May.

“The car is more dialed in. But somehow wins are not in our possession,” Albuquerque said.

“Road America was a good example. I thought we were really, really quick but because of a difficult qualifying in the rain, we could not put the car better [on the grid].

“The race was kind of decided there.

“As we are seeing now — and when you have two pros knowing exactly how to deal with traffic and defend from the car behind — at Road America it was almost two hours and 40 [minutes] with the top three cars separated by two seconds the whole race.

“That shows how competitive the championship is.”

Title rival Nasr, meanwhile, is hopeful of becoming the first three-time DPi winner this year, which could have significant championship implications.

“I feel like the team has done a great job over the past few events,” said Nasr. “We’re building up the momentum and getting the most out of our No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R. The whole package has been working pretty well.

“We’ll take each day as it comes at Laguna. That place is very technical and quite tricky to set up the car for one lap, with regards to qualifying pace.

“The race will dictate a lot. But, track position is important, so qualifying will be crucial. Again, we’ll do what it takes to keep the fight alive all the way until the end.”

Tincknell added that the title battle is “basically equal” given IMSA’s new-for-2021 points system, which has been multiplied by a factor of ten compared to its previous system.

“We did well last time out at Road America and closed everything up at the top of the championship,” he said. “We know that we’re basically equal on points with the No. 31 and the No. 10 is just ahead so we have everything to play for.

“It’s a three horse race now so we need another strong and consistent run.

“In the past couple of years we haven’t been as strong as we hoped at Laguna in terms of the results but last year I had the fastest stint averages in the race so we know we can get better results there.”

Harry Tincknell led the way in final practice for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The Englishman improved on Filipe Albuquerque’s 1:14.880 lap time from Friday by setting a 1:14.552 lap in the closing stages of the session in his No. 55 Mazda RT24-P.

It was just 0.002 seconds quicker than Pipo Derani’s No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, which paced the majority of the session.

Derani made a late-session attempt to improve his time but was unable to.

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 of Albuquerque was third quickest, followed by the improving No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Dane Cameron.

Tristan Vautier completed the top-five in the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac.

***The No. 55 Mazda RT24-P has lost its fourth place starting position after the car was found to have exceeded the maximum camber angle in post-qualifying technical inspection. Harry Tincknell will now start from the rear of the six-car DPi field.