- JD Motorsports with Gary Keller announced Thursday that Newegg Commence Inc. has joined the team as a new partner on Ryan Vargas' No. 6 Chevrolet for Saturday's Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville
Speedway. Newegg is using the sponsorship to launch Newegg Auto, a new automotive parts online storefront.
- In FIA World Endurance Championship action, Toyota GAZOO Racing's Kamui Kobayashi was fastest in Free Practice No. 2 with a lap at 111.007 mph. The lap was three-hundredths of a second faster than teammate Brendon Hartley. Signatech Alpine's Matthieu Vaxiviere was a second back in third.
Unlike Thursday's on-track action, Free Practice No. 2 was far from clean. Sebastien Buemi had contact with the GTE-Am Iron Lynx Ferrari driven by Sarah Bovy in turn 1, resulting in a crash that brought out a red flag. Both cars were able to get back to the paddock and were repaired in time for Free Practice No. 3
There were also two additional full course yellow situations. One was due to debris on-track, while the other was due to the LMP2 No. 70 of Realteam Racing's Norman Nato stalling on course.
LMP2 was led by JOTA Sport's No. 28 with Tom Blomqvist at the wheel. Blomqvist set a lap at 109.863 mph, good for fourth overall. Blomqvist's lap was nearly eight-tenths of a second faster than United Autosports' Filipe Albuquerque. Team WRT's Charles Milesi was third quickest, then ARC Bratislava's Oliver Webb and High Class Racing's Robert Kubica.
GTE-Pro was topped by Porsche GT Team's Kevin Estre with a lap at 104.000 mph. Estre's lap was a quarter of a second faster than teammate Gianmaria Bruni. The Ferraris are still multiple seconds off of the pace.
Team Project 1's Matteo Cairoli was fastest in GTE-Am with a lap at 102.587 mph. Cairoli's lap was nine-tenths of a second faster than the Aston Martin of TF Sport's Felipe Fraga. Dempsey-Proton Racing's Matt Campbell was third quickest, then Cetilar Racing's Giorgio Sernagiotto and D'Station Racing's Tomonobu Fujii.
- Free Practice No. 3 saw Kobayashi stay on top of the speed charts with a lap at 111.094 mph. The lap was seven-tenths of a second faster than teammate Hartley in the repaired No. 8 Toyota. Signatech Alpine's Andre Negrao was third fastest.
LMP2 saw Blomqvist top the class once again with a lap at 109.370 mph, good for fourth overall. Blomqvist's lap was two-thirds of a second faster than Albuquerque. Antonio Felix da Costa, who was fastest in class in the second JOTA entry Thursday, was third fastest in the final practice session, while Inter Europol Competition's Renger van der Zande was fourth. Kubica was fifth
quickest.
GTE-Pro continued to be led by Porsche with Neel Jani fastest in the No. 92 with a lap at 102.400 mph, nearly two seconds slower than in Free Practice No. 2. This decreased pace put the Ferraris back in the mix as AF Corse's Alessandro Pier Guidi was one-sixth of a second back in second. Miguel Molina was third quickest.
Dempsey-Proton Racing's Jaxon Evans was fastest in GTE-Am with a lap at 101.310 mph. Evans' lap was one-third of a second faster than Bovy in the repaired "Iron Dames" Ferrari. Rino Mastronardi was third in another Iron Lynx Ferrari, followed by the Ferrari's of AF Corse's Nicklas Nielsen and Spirit of Race's Francesco Castellacci.
