Pipo Derani was fastest Friday after two practice sessions at Road America ahead of the IMSA SportsCar Weekend.

The 6.4km recently resurfaced track saw eight red flags on the day resulting in 56 minutes of practice stoppage.

The first session produced five red flags, and the second saw three red flags for crashes.

Derani, in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, nipped Sebastian Bourdais with a flying lap of 1:47.986 in the final minute of practice. .

“The new tarmac is definitely something to keep an eye out for;. its slippery in sections so that will be tricky for the race in overtaking GTs and not go over the limit,” said Derani.

Bourdais, fastest in the opening session, was .201 behind Derani.

Ricky Taylor in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 was third fastest with a 1:48.598.

Connor De Phillippi and Philipp Eng of Team RLL BMW rounded out the top spots.

Australian Matt Campbell in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche was ninth quickest with a 1:49.761

Ryan Dalziel led LMP2 in the #8 Era Motorsport Oreca with a 1:52.581.

Garett Grist set the pace with a 1:58.069 in LMP3 in the #30 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

GTD Pro was led by Jordan Taylor in the #3 Corvette C8.R GTD with a 2:03.712 lap in the closing minutes.

“We’ve done some simulation work to perfect what we can do on our side to get as much performance out of the car as possible,” said Taylor. “From this point, it’s all about going for race wins.”

Mikael Grenier was fastest in GTD in the #32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. Unfortunately the #32, Co-driver Mike Skeen crashed hard in turn 11 minutes after Grenier recorded his 2:04.327.

The WeatherTech Championship’s 70 minute qualifying session is scheduled for Sunday at 03:15 AEST.