Practice report

IMSA Laguna Seca: Acura fastest, Aitken shunts Cadillac in FP1

Acura’s Filipe Albuquerque set the pace in IMSA SportsCar Championship practice at Laguna Seca, which was interrupted by a red flag for Jack Aitken’s big crash.

Albuquerque beat BMW’s Philipp Eng and Mathieu Jaminet (Porsche Penske Motorsport 963) in the 90-minute opening practice session for the fourth round of the series.

Eng set the pace early in the session in his #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 with a lap of 1m14.453s, before Albuquerque’s #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 just beat that with 1m14.434s.

“I felt really good, I felt really connected with the car,” said Albuquerque. “The new asphalt has changed this track completely, in a very positive way.”

Aitken had just taken P2 at the time, 0.28s off the pace in the #31 Action Express-run Cadillac V-Series.R, when he crashed heavily into the tirewall at Turn 4, recording a 50g impact according to IMSA radio.

Louis Deletraz was fourth quickest in sister #40 Acura to the pacesetter, ahead of Aitken and Nick Yelloly (#25 BMW).

The second Caddy, the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing-run example, was stranded in the garage for much of the early running with a water leak. The car ended up seventh in Sebastien Bourdais’ hands.

Felipe Nasr was eighth in the #7 PPM Porsche from the customer 963s of Richard Westbrook (JDC-Miller) and Gianmaria Bruni (Proton).

Porsche pips Corvette in GTD

In GTD, Antonio Garcia led the early going in his #3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R with a lap of 1m24.099s.

Seb Priaulx’s AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R beat that in the closing moments by 0.193s with a fastest time of 1m24.299s.

Nicky Catsburg was third in the second Corvette, while Philip Ellis led the pro-am GTD class in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes.

Practice two starts at 12:15pm ET on Saturday before qualifying at 7:35pm ET.


Cla	Drivers	#	Chassis	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	R. Taylor F. Albuquerque Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	10	Acura ARX-06	39	1'14.434		108.241
2	J. Krohn P. Eng BMW M Team RLL	24	BMW M Hybrid V8	41	+0.019 1'14.453	0.019	108.213
3	N. Tandy M. Jaminet Porsche Penske Motorsport	6	Porsche 963	46	+0.089 1'14.523	0.070	108.112
4	J. Taylor L. Deletraz Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	40	Acura ARX-06	42	+0.243 1'14.677	0.154	107.889
5	P. Derani J. Aitken Whelen Cadillac Racing	31	Cadillac V-Series.R	14	+0.300 1'14.734	0.057	107.806
6	C. de Phillippi N. Yelloly BMW M Team RLL	25	BMW M Hybrid V8	42	+0.378 1'14.812	0.078	107.694
7	R. van der Zande S. Bourdais Cadillac Racing	01	Cadillac V-Series.R	22	+0.668 1'15.102	0.290	107.278
8	D. Cameron F. Nasr Porsche Penske Motorsport	7	Porsche 963	41	+0.709 1'15.143	0.041	107.220
9	T. van der Helm R. Westbrook JDC/Miller Motorsports	85	Porsche 963	45	+1.307 1'15.741	0.598	106.373
10	G. Bruni B. Viscaal Proton Competition	5	Porsche 963	52	+1.374 1'15.808	0.067	106.279
11	L. Heinrich S. Priaulx AO Racing	77	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	45	+6.748 1'21.182	5.374	99.244
12	A. Garcia A. Sims Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports	3	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	25	+6.941 1'21.375	0.193	99.008
13	T. Milner N. Catsburg Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports	4	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	41	+6.970 1'21.404	0.029	98.973
14	R. Ward P. Ellis Winward Racing	57	Mercedes AMG GT3	45	+7.041 1'21.475	0.071	98.887
15	M. Goikhberg L. Spinelli Forte Racing	78	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	39	+7.140 1'21.574	0.099	98.767
16	R. Foley P. Gallagher Turner Motorsport	557	BMW M4 GT3	44	+7.272 1'21.706	0.132	98.607
17	O. Fidani M. Bell AWA	13	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD	41	+7.481 1'21.915	0.209	98.356
18	S. Monk S. McAleer Gradient Racing	66	Acura NSX GT3	45	+7.494 1'21.928	0.013	98.340
19	F. Montecalvo P. Thompson Vasser Sullivan	12	Lexus RC F GT3	38	+7.513 1'21.947	0.019	98.317
20	R. Gunn M. Farnbacher Heart Of Racing Team	23	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	40	+7.551 1'21.985	0.038	98.272
21	K. Marcelli D. Formal Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	45	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	42	+7.559 1'21.993	0.008	98.262
22	M. Franco A. Costa Conquest Racing	34	Ferrari 296 GT3	38	+7.647 1'22.081	0.088	98.157
23	J. Hawksworth B. Barnicoat Vasser Sullivan	14	Lexus RC F GT3	33	+7.663 1'22.097	0.016	98.138
24	M. Kirchhofer O. Jarvis Pfaff Motorsports	9	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	46	+7.715 1'22.149	0.052	98.075
25	R. De Angelis S. Pumpelly Heart Of Racing Team	27	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	32	+7.743 1'22.177	0.028	98.042
26	A. Adelson E. Skeer Wright Motorsports	120	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	44	+7.873 1'22.307	0.130	97.887
27	B. Sellers M. Snow Paul Miller Racing	1	BMW M4 GT3	41	+7.961 1'22.395	0.088	97.783
28	J. Andretti G. Chaves Andretti Motorsports	43	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	44	+8.015 1'22.449	0.054	97.719
29	M. Skeen M. Grenier Korthoff/Preston Motorsports	32	Mercedes AMG GT3	39	+8.103 1'22.537	0.088	97.614
30	H. Tincknell M. Rockenfeller Ford Multimatic Motorsports	64	Ford Mustang GT3	34	+8.155 1'22.589	0.052	97.553
31	B. Iribe F. Schandorff Inception Racing	70	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	25	+8.161 1'22.595	0.006	97.546
32	G. Levorato C. Lewis Proton Competition	55	Ford Mustang GT3	39	+8.660 1'23.094	0.499	96.960
33	J. Hand D. Muller Ford Multimatic Motorsports	65	Ford Mustang GT3	31	+8.718 1'23.152	0.058	96.892
34	K. Li A. Fjordbach MDK Motorsports	86	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	37	+8.804 1'23.238	0.086	96.792
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