Ozz Negri moved Michael Shank Racing’s Ligier JS P2-Honda to the top of Friday’s second practice session and headed an all-P2 top three in IMSA’s Prototype class.

The Brazilian’s lap of 1m55.747sec in the No. 60 entry was faster than the No. 55 Mazda Prototype that led the opening practice session (-0.118) and significantly ahead of the No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP (-0.442) in third.

“We tried a couple of big changes,” Negri said. “It just shows the strength of the Michael Shank Racing team. We went on the right path and made the right changes. We just keep getting better and better. We’re fighters. I think the car is pretty good and has good potential. It’s only practice but it builds the confidence of the team and that’s what we need. I’m happy with the way it’s going.”

Colin Braun was fastest in PC with his No. 54 CORE autosport entry (1m59.060sec) to lead the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports PC (-0.361) and the No. 8 Starworks Motosport car (-0.559), and while IMSA’s Pro-Am prototype class had great separation between the top three, its Pro-Am GT Daytona was much closer.

Change Racing’s Spencer Pumpelly headed GTD in the No. 16 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (2m07.078sec) and had Lone Star Racing’s Mike Skeen breathing down his neck (-0.040) in the No. 80 Dodge Viper GT3-R. And Skeen had even less room behind him as Andy Lally, who won the most recent race in Lime Rock with Magnus Racing owner John Potter, halved the gap to the Viper (-0.020) in the No. 44 Audi R8 LMS GT3.

“We have a car that is really good for a lap, and we are excited about that,” Pumpelly said. “But we also want to make sure that we have a car that is good for full stints. So we are going to work on trying to get a little bit different balance on old tires, trying to make sure the car is as good on old tires as it is on new. Of course it might not have the same lap times but we want to make sure we have the balance and the pace on old tires.

“The guys did a great job today! In the first practice we were almost last because we were trying some things that we thought would work and I’m really happy we did that. But we couldn’t get it to work so we went back to the basics and the guys put a lot of work into turning the car around and what we have used before in the past was good today, so I’m excited about that and excited for qualifying tomorrow. It’s great to have so many supporters from Orion here this weekend and I think it will be a good event.”

The intense GT Le Mans factory battles continued during the 60-minute late afternoon session as Joey Hand took control of the class in his No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing GT (2:03.415). Hand enjoyed a comfortable margin to the No. 100 BMW Team RLL M6 (-0.512) and the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 (-0.544).

UP NEXT: Practice 3, 9:25 a.m. Central.