***Friday’s Free Practice 2 for the 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas marked only the second time Aston Martin machinery topped both the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes in a FIA World Endurance Championship session, the other coming in FP3 at Fuji last year, and ironically with times set by the same drivers in Harry Tincknell (Hypercar) and Zach Robichon (LMGT3). ***Seven drivers received five-minute stop-and-hold penalties for “constant abuse” of track limits in Free Practice 1: Francois Heriau (No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo), Miguel Molina (No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P), Tom Van Rompuy (No. 78 Akkodis-ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3), Gray Newell (No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo), Nick Cassidy (No. 93 Peugeot 9X8) as well as Logan Sargeant (No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 Evo) and Martin Berry (No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo) which were both handed two five-minute holds for continued track abuse. ***Additionally, Johannes Zelger (No. 79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG) was penalized post-session and his car was forced to serve a five-minute hold at the start of Free Practice 2, while Timur Boguslavskiy (No. 91 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo), Antonio Felix da Costa (No. 35 Alpine A424) and Petru Umbrarescu (No. 87 Akkodis-ASP Lexus) were handed five-minute stop-and-holds for track limits incurred during FP2 itself. ***Genesis Magma Racing were fined €2,000 ($2,321 USD) for its No. 19 Genesis GMR-001 having taken to the track in FP1 with a different transponder than the one declared by the team. The No. 92 Manthey Porsche also initially encountered the same issue, although a second report from the stewards indicated the declaration was correct and thus no fine was issued. ***Joint Hypercar points leader Robin Frijns is seeking to bounce back from a disappointing result