Watkins Glen is located roughly 400km from New York City, and a two-hour drive even from New York State's second city of Buffalo. The 5.3km Grand Prix course built in the hills has a unique sinuous layout full of ups and downs. On Friday the 28th, the practice session started at 1:30 PM.

Vehicles competing in GRAND-AM ROLEX races are comprised mainly of 2-seater closed-body type Daytona Prototypes (DP), while FIA GT3-spec machines make up the lion's share of the GT class, and also in the mix are the power-restricted GX-class cars. Today's practice session started with an exclusive run for the GT and GX classes, with the GX-class machinery out first. The weather forecast for this weekend predicts cloudy skies and occasional heavy showers. There was rain this morning as well, with a torrential shower before the start of practice. However, once practice started, it let up immediately, and the course dried out in the blink of an eye. Joel Miller in the #00 VISIT FLORIDA Mazda6 SKYACTIV-D Racing entry was the first out on track. After checking the car's settings, he turned the wheel over to Tristan Nunez. Terada was up next. Making a pit stop after three laps, he said, "The vibration I felt at Daytona has almost disappeared. It's a big step forward. I have a few requests, like the gearbox doesn't quite suit the course, or there's some turbo lag, and the acceleration in lower gears could be improved, but overall I got a good impression of the car." Afterward, there was a mixed session, with the DP cars running for one hour, and where, by the end of the session, the #70 Mazda6 had taken the top time in the GX class, with the identical #00 car scoring the second best time.

Tomorrow the 29th features more practice runs and official qualifying.