The second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship weekend in a row will see Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) back in action at Watkins Glen International for a two-day show for the WeatherTech 240 at The Glen.
Following the team’s second place finish in last weekend’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, MSR returned to Watkins Glen International, but this time for a sprint race format for drivers Pla and Dane Cameron.
After Cameron qualified the No. 60 Acura on the front row for last weekend’s race, on Thursday it was Pla’s turn to put the MSR Dpi on the front row for Friday’s two hour, 40-minute sprint race.
The team unfortunately was not graced with the same sunny weather that was present last weekend and instead arrived to the track on Thursday with torrential downpours. The first, and only practice session was held under wet conditions, with periods of heavy rain.
Pla took advantage of the entire hour session behind the wheel of the Acura in preparation for qualifying later in the afternoon.
“The Acura felt fantastic in the rain from the out lap,” said Pla. “I was really pleased with how it handled around the track and it gave me a lot of confidence.”
With the track drying enough for qualifying, Pla took to the track and immediately showed pace, jumping to the top of the time sheet with 10 minutes to go. Improving on his initial fast time, Pla closed out the session with a best lap of 1:30.404-seconds which placed him second for Friday’s night race.
“Qualifying P2 is definitely a good place to start,” said Pla. “I made a small mistake in my fast lap out of Turn 7, so it cost me a few tenths. Overall the car felt very good. There are a few things that we can improve on for the race tomorrow but I think we have a really good race car no matter the track conditions tomorrow. We are confident that we can push hard and go for P1 tomorrow.”
With Pla utilizing the only practice session to prepare for qualifying, MSR teammate Cameron will take his first official laps of the race weekend during his stint of the WeatherTech 240. The two-hour, 40-minute race will go green at 6:10pm ET.
Source. Sunday Group
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