Petit Le Mans: AXR Cadillac leads opening practice

Reigning IMSA Prototype champion Felipe Nasr set a strong pace in the first practice session for this weekend’s 2019 WeatherTech Sports Car Championship finale at Road Atlanta, while Ford led the way in GT Le Mans, and the Turner Motorsport BMW topped GTD.

Nasr’s Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R lapped the 2.54-mile course in just 69.093sec to eclipse the two Acura Team Penske ARX-05s of Ricky Taylor and Dane Cameron by 0.642 and 0.880sec respectively.

Colin Braun, on CORE autosport’s final run in Prototypes clocked fourth fastest in the Nissan DPi, and Matthieu Vaxiviere sent the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac around fast enough to beat the two Mazda RT24-Ps.

Richard Westbrook led GT Le Mans in the  #67 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT ahead of the squad’s final race running the sexy four-year-old machines, but being less than two tenths slower wasn’t enough to bag second for teammate Dirk Muller. Risi Competizione roared back to the series – for the first time since January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona – in fine form, and James Calado bagged second spot for the Texas-based squad.

Nick Tandy (Porsche), John Edwards (BMW) and Antonio Garcia (Corvette) were all within three-tenths of top spot.

The session was red-flagged twice for GT Daytona cars – once when Jack Hawksworth picked up a puncture just after passing pitlane entrance, and elected to stop his AIM Vasser-Sullivan Lexus RC F on track rather than complete a whole lap with a flailing tire carcass. The second red came late on when Marco Seefried struck a tire wall in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan.

Both those two cars ended up in the top three times – PMR’s best being set by Bryan Sellers – but it was Bill Auberlen who clinched top spot in the Turner Motorsports  BMW M6.

Christopher Mies’ Land Motorsport Audi R8 was fourth ahead  of Jeroen Bleekemolen’s best effort in the Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 and Toni Vilander in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari.

Second practice begins at 2.50pm local (Eastern) time.

ClaNumDriverClassChassisLapsTimeGapIntervalkm/h
131 Felipe Nasr
Eric Curran
Pipo Derani
DPiCadillac DPi91’09.093  132.343
27 Ricky Taylor
Helio Castroneves
Graham Rahal
DPiAcura DPi301’09.7350.6420.642131.124
36 Dane Cameron
Juan Pablo Montoya
Simon Pagenaud
DPiAcura DPi221’09.9730.8800.238130.678
454 Jon Bennett
Colin Braun
Romain Dumas
DPiNissan DPi281’10.0220.9290.049130.587
510 Renger van der Zande
Jordan Taylor
Matthieu Vaxiviere
DPiCadillac DPi311’10.1471.0540.125130.354
677 Oliver Jarvis
Tristan Nunez
Timo Bernhard
DPiMazda DPi321’10.1691.0760.022130.313
755 Jonathan Bomarito
Harry Tincknell
Olivier Pla
DPiMazda DPi151’10.3561.2630.187129.967
885 Mikhail Goikhberg
Tristan Vautier
Juan Piedrahita
DPiCadillac DPi301’10.7741.6810.418129.199
984 Simon Trummer
Stephen Simpson
Chris Miller
DPiCadillac DPi341’10.9281.8350.154128.919
1050 Will Owen
Rene Binder
Spencer Pigot
DPiCadillac DPi271’11.2002.1070.272128.426
1152 Matt McMurry
Gabriel Aubry
Dalton Kellett
LMP2ORECA LMP2281’11.2332.1400.033128.367
1238 Cameron Cassels
Kyle Masson
Andrew Evans
LMP2ORECA LMP2311’11.3812.2880.148128.100
1367 Ryan Briscoe
Richard Westbrook
Scott Dixon
GTLMFord GT251’16.8107.7175.429119.046
1462 James Calado
Alessandro Pier Guidi
Daniel Serra
GTLMFerrari 488 GTE271’16.9027.8090.092118.904
1566 Joey Hand
Dirk Muller
Sébastien Bourdais
GTLMFord GT221’16.9827.8890.080118.780
16911 Patrick Pilet
Nick Tandy
Frédéric Makowiecki
GTLMPorsche 911 RSR311’16.9927.8990.010118.765
1724 Jesse Krohn
John Edwards
Philipp Eng
GTLMBMW M8 GTE241’17.0317.9380.039118.705
183 Jan Magnussen
Antonio Garcia
Mike Rockenfeller
GTLMCorvette C7.R111’17.0807.9870.049118.629
1925 Tom Blomqvist
Connor de Phillippi
Colton Herta
GTLMBMW M8 GTE251’17.2058.1120.125118.437
204 Oliver Gavin
Tommy Milner
Marcel Fassler
GTLMCorvette C7.R121’17.3618.2680.156118.198
21912 Earl Bamber
Laurens Vanthoor
Mathieu Jaminet
GTLMPorsche 911 RSR311’17.5168.4230.155117.962
2296 Bill Auberlen
Robby Foley
Dillon Machavern
GTDBMW M6 GT3311’19.30610.2131.790115.299
2314 Richard Heistand
Jack Hawksworth
Parker Chase
GTDLexus RC F GT3191’19.59610.5030.290114.879
2448 Bryan Sellers
Corey Lewis
Marco Seefried
GTDLamborghini Huracan GT3171’19.67010.5770.074114.773
2529 Christopher Mies
Richard Feller
Daniel Morad
GTDAudi R8 LMS GT3271’19.72710.6340.057114.691
2633 Ben Keating
Jeroen Bleekemolen
Felipe Fraga
GTDMercedes-AMG GT3241’19.76410.6710.037114.637
2763 Cooper MacNeil
Toni Vilander
Jeff Westphal
GTDFerrari 488 GT3281’19.77610.6830.012114.620
2844 John Potter
Andy Lally
Spencer Pumpelly
GTDLamborghini Huracan GT3281’20.02310.9300.247114.266
2986 Mario Farnbacher
Trent Hindman
Justin Marks
GTDAcura NSX GT3181’20.07010.9770.047114.199
3047 Brandon Gdovic
Don Yount
Shinya Michimi
GTDLamborghini Huracan GT3201’20.19811.1050.128114.017
3112 Frankie Montecalvo
Townsend Bell
Aaron Telitz
GTDLexus RC F GT3251’20.48711.3940.289113.608
329 Scott Hargrove
Zacharie Robichon
Lars Kern
GTDPorsche 911 GT3 R221’20.69611.6030.209113.313
3357 Katherine Legge
Ana Beatriz
Christina Nielsen
GTDAcura NSX GT3231’21.41212.3190.716112.317
345 Joao Barbosa
Mike Conway
Filipe Albuquerque
DPiCadillac DPi51’22.46813.3751.056110.879

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