Dennis Olsen set the fastest lap in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Blancpain GT World Challenge America meeting at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The Porsche factory Young Professional posted a time of 1:16.975 behind the wheel of the No. 91 Pro-Am class Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R to displace the No. 63 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the top of the leaderboard.

Ryan Dalziel’s 1:17.096 held as the best lap for much of the 30-minute session until Olsen produced the only sub 1 minute, 17s effort with four minutes to go.

Olsen is sharing the No. 91 Wright Porsche with Anthony Imperato this weekend, after Matt Campbell stepped in for the previous round at VIR.

Andy Soucek set the third-quickest time in the No. 9 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3, 0.158 seconds off the lead pace.

The VIR race 1 co-winner edged out Miguel Molina in the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 and Wolf Henzler in the No. 24 Alegra Motorsports Porsche in a closely-packed top five.

The top eight cars all finished within half a second of Olsen’s benchmark, with Patrick Long slotting into sixth on a 1:17.278 in the sister Wright machine, ahead of the Acura NSX GT3 Evos driven by Kyle Marcelli and Dane Cameron.

Naoto Takeda led the Am class ranks on Turner Motorsport’s first Blancpain GT America appearance this year, with the Japanese driver setting a time of 1:19.506 in the No. 96 BMW M6 GT3.

A further 60-minute practice session for this weekend’s pair of 90-minute races is set to take place tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. eastern (3 p.m. UK).

RESULTS: Thursday Practice