New Gebhardt Duqueines Top VP Racing Challenge Practice
By Tony DiZinno
LEXINGTON, Ohio – Gebhardt Motorsport has upgraded to two Duqueine D09 chassis for the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course weekend after running the previous generation D08 through the opening months of the season. Both new cars adapted quickly as they paced IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) practice on Friday afternoon.
Oscar Tunjo set a best time of 1 minute, 16.737 seconds (105.930 mph) in the No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. Duqueine ahead of teammate Danny Soufi in his No. 11 PINAXIS-Zone 4 Racing car at 1:17.448 in the warmer, second 40-minute session of the day.
The team confirmed pre-race that Soufi’s No. 11 car has been converted from a D08 to a D09, while Tunjo has been loaned a car from Duqueine, provided by the Forbush Performance team. His D08 car was converted in France and is being tested by Valentino Catalano before being shipped to the U.S., where it will be available to him at the next IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge race at VIRginia International Raceway later this month.
FastMD with Remstar paced the morning session when Jagger Jones clocked in a 1 minute, 18.286 seconds lap (103.834 mph) as the No. 87 Duqueine D08 coach before handing the car off to Farhan Siddiqi for the remainder of the weekend.
CarBahn Motorsports led both sessions in Grand Sport X (GSX). The team’s No. 35 BMW M4 GT4 EVO clocked in at 1 minute, 27.673 seconds (92.717 mph) in the morning, with Courtney Crone joined by past IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) champion Jeff Westphal as a coach in the first session. Crone set the fastest GSX lap of the day in the afternoon at 1 minute, 26.200 seconds (94.301 mph) in the afternoon.
Westin Workman slotted into second in the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2; Workman has won all four VP Racing Challenge GSX rounds this season.
VP Racing Challenge competitors qualify Saturday at 8:50 a.m. ET and local time, with race one scheduled for 12:45 p.m. ET on Peacock and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel.