Sebastien Bourdais posted the fastest time in the opening practice session for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale – the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
The French driver of Chip Ganassi’s #1 Cadillac V-Series.R machine took to the top of the timesheets in the final frays of practice, posting a time of 1:11.674s – 0.046s ahead of Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 – with the #6 car having an eventful first session.
The session which kicked off IMSA’s 26th running of the Petit Le Mans was run under changeable conditions, with a damp, but drying Road Atlanta circuit providing an extra challenge for drivers.
A dry line was there to be enjoyed by drivers, with conditions improving throughout the session, but the cool temperatures and a damp off-line caught some drivers out.
Approximately 30 minutes in, Antonio Fuoco brought out the red flag when he went off the dry line at Turn 1, spinning the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 into the concrete wall and causing extensive damage to the car’s rear end.
Prior to that, the top five on the leaderboard were held exclusively by LMP2 machinery, with the GTP field taking longer to get to grips with the conditions out on track.
20 more minutes of Green Flag running was had after an approximate 14-minute stoppage before the Red Flag came out again as Jonathan Woolridge came into contact with the £6 Porsche 963 of Laurens Vanthoor at Turn 5, coming off worse and going off the circuit in his #38 Ligier JS P320.
A seven-minute delay meant the 50-plus car field was let loose once again for 20 minutes to lay down some faster lap times, with Jaminet ascending to the top of the timesheets in the #6 Porsche with less than 10 minutes remaining.
But Jaminet was usurped by Bourdais in the #1 Cadillac, who ensured the American GTP machine took top honours.
The #7 Penske Porsche took third spot with a time of 1:11.907, courtesy of driver Matt Campbell.
Jack Aitken, who has linked up with Drivers’ standings leaders Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims in the Whelen Engineering Cadillac for this weekend’s 10-hour endurance race, posted the fourth-fastest time in the #31 V-Series.R, lapping Road Atlanta in a time of 1:12.177.
The top five was completed by the leading Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Marco Wittmann, who posted a 1:12.352s time in the #24 entry.
Sixth place went to Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, ahead of DTM reigning champion Sheldon van der Linde in the #25 RLL BMW.
Eighth went to Ricky Taylor in the #10 Acura, whose time of 1:12.653s kicks off his and co-driver Felipe Alburquerque’s championship charge this weekend, with the pair currently second in the standings.
The top-10 was completed by one GTP entry and the leading LMP2 car, namely Tijmen van der Helm in the #5 JDC Miller Porsche and Ben Hanley in the #04 Crowdstrike Racing Oreca LMP2 07 machine.
The final GTP, Proton Competition could only muster 18th overall.
Hot on the heels of Hanley’s 1:13.919s time at the head of the LMP2 field was Alex Quinn in the #52 PR1 Oreca, whose time of 1:14.179s was good enough for second in class and 11th overall.
The top three in LMP2 were rounded out by Mikkel Jensen in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca.
In LMP3, Garett Grist led the class in the #30 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 car courtesy of a 1:16.732s lap time, ahead of Orey Fidani in the #13 AWA Duqueine DO8 and Gabby Chaves in the #36 Andretti Autosports Ligier.
Jules Gounon took top honours in GTD Pro, with a time of 1:20.279s in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Gounon headed Mirko Bortolotti in the Iron Lynx #63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 and 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans-winner Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3.
Bill Auberlen was fastest in GTD in his #97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, ahead of Jan Heylen in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R and Maddison Snow in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW.
With the first session completed, attention turns to Second Practice at Road Atlanta, which commences at 14:35 local time (19:35 BST).
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