Petit Le Mans: Derani leads Cadillac 1-2 in darkness of FP3

The Brazilian lapped the 2.54-mile Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in 70.347sec, just quick enough to beat fellow Cadillac DPi-V.R driver, Wayne Taylor Racing’s Renger van der Zande.

The two Acura Team Penske cars were next up, Dane Cameron a hair quicker than Ricky Taylor, while Harry Tincknell was fifth – yet within 0.13sec of pacesetter Derani.

The 90min session was interrupted twice by red flags, one for Chris Miller in the #85 JDC-Miller Cadillac who spun and lost his rear wing, and an earlier one for a gravel-trap excursion by the Inter Europol Competition LMP2 Oreca.

LMP2 was led by Mikkel Jensen in the Tower Motorsports by Starworks car, who was around 0.3sec than Performance Tech Motorsports’ pacesetter Colin Braun.

The Porsche 911 RSRs sat 1-2 by the end of the session, Laurens Vanthoor a quarter-second faster than Frederic Makowiecki.

Nicky Catsburg was one of the ‘extra’ enduro drivers who excelled in the session, setting third fastest time in the Corvette C8.R he’ll be sharing with Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor.

Jack Hawksworth set fastest time in GT Daytona, his AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F lapping mere hundreths quicker than the impressive Jan Heylen in the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Markus Winkelhock made an impressive return to IMSA with third fastest in the Hardpoint Audi R8, just ahead of Alessandro Balzan’s Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488.

Qualifying commences at 12.30pm ET on Friday, while the race starts at 12.40pm ET on Saturday.

Cla	Num	Driver	Class	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	31	Felipe Nasr Pipo Derani Filipe Albuquerque	DPi	Cadillac DPi	63	1'10.175
2	10	Renger van der Zande Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon	DPi	Cadillac DPi	52	1'10.215	0.040
3	6	Juan Pablo Montoya Dane Cameron Simon Pagenaud	DPi	Acura DPi	45	1'10.262	0.087
4	7	Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor Alexander Rossi	DPi	Acura DPi	41	1'10.285	0.110
5	55	Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell Ryan Hunter-Reay	DPi	Mazda DPi	49	1'10.304	0.129
6	77	Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez Olivier Pla	DPi	Mazda DPi	56	1'10.809	0.634
7	5	Sébastien Bourdais Tristan Vautier Loic Duval	DPi	Cadillac DPi	47	1'10.819	0.644
8	8	John Farano Mikkel Jensen Job Van Uitert	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	60	1'11.195	1.020
9	38	James McGuire Matthew Bell Colin Braun	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	48	1'11.503	1.328
10	52	Patrick Kelly Simon Trummer Scott Huffaker	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	50	1'12.146	1.971
11	85	Chris Miller Matheus Leist Gabriel Aubry	DPi	Cadillac DPi	34	1'12.307	2.132
12	51	Austin McCusker Jakub Smiechowski Rob Hodes	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	55	1'13.670	3.495
13	912	Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor Mathieu Jaminet	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	58	1'17.252	7.077
14	911	Nick Tandy Frédéric Makowiecki Matt Campbell	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	51	1'17.481	7.306
15	3	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Nick Catsburg	GTLM	Corvette C8.R	54	1'17.512	7.337
16	24	Jesse Krohn John Edwards Augusto Farfus	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	58	1'17.580	7.405
17	4	Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fassler	GTLM	Corvette C8.R	54	1'17.741	7.566
18	25	Bruno Spengler Connor de Phillippi Colton Herta	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	56	1'17.874	7.699
19	14	Jack Hawksworth Aaron Telitz Michael de Quesada	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	54	1'20.501	10.326
20	16	Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long Jan Heylen	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	51	1'20.547	10.372
21	30	Rob Ferriol Markus Winkelhock Andrew Davis	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3	47	1'20.660	10.485
22	63	Cooper MacNeil Alessandro Balzan Jeff Westphal	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	32	1'20.753	10.578
23	23	Ian James Roman De Angelis Darren Turner	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	39	1'20.861	10.686
24	9	Dennis Olsen Zacharie Robichon Lars Kern	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	47	1'20.937	10.762
25	86	Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry Shinya Michimi	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	47	1'20.980	10.805
26	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley Dillon Machavern	GTD	BMW M6 GT3	42	1'21.001	10.826
27	48	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Corey Lewis	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	43	1'21.045	10.870
28	12	Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell Kyle Kirkwood	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	55	1'21.049	10.874
29	57	Alvaro Parente Mikhail Goikhberg Trent Hindman	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	49	1'21.212	11.037
30	74	Gar Robinson Lawson Aschenbach Ben Keating	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	37	1'21.267	11.092
31	44	Andy Lally John Potter Spencer Pumpelly	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	44	1'21.633	11.458
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