The new pavement at Road America has more grip, at least on the racing line, and is producing times below track records in several classes, indicating that several records will fall in qualifying. Even the GTP cars were under the DPi track record, set in 2019 by Dane Cameron at 1m48.715s.

The newfound traction on line has a price, though a marked difference in traction once a car strays off the rubbered-in pavement, making passing in the race a challenge, and it has contributed to the plethora of session interruptions for crashes.

“It was very messy and very difficult to get a read with the red flags,” said Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia after the first practice session.
“The track is tricky in a way. There is definitely way more grip overall. In years before, the racing line was way wider, so you had room to find your way or choose your line. Here it is a tiny bit different. You need to really stick to the line, otherwise the drop-off in grip is quite fast.
That’s why I think there were so many mistakes and offs and crashes. It’s going to be tricky in the race when you get passed or need to pass.”

Once the qualifying simulations for the pro classes began in the final 15 minutes, the GTD PRO cars went to the top of the time sheet,
Jordan Taylor turning the top time of 2m3.712s (117.8mph) in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C8.R.
That time was a relatively large margin over second-place Daniel Juncadella’s 1m4.183s in the No. 29 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. Jack Hawksworth was third in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 at 2m4.225s.
All the GTD PRO cars were within a second and all under Hawksworth’s track record set last year.