IMSA Laguna Seca: Derani leads Cadillac 1-2 in FP1
Pipo Derani put Action Express Racing on top in opening practice at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, ahead of Renger van der Zande of Wayne Taylor Racing.
Derani’s 1min15.851sec lap of the 2.238-mile track left the AXR entry 0.519sec ahead of WTR’s similar Cadillac DPi-V.R driven by Renger van der Zande. He in turn was mere hundredths ahead of the Acura Team Penske ARX-05s of Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves.
The Mazda RT24-Ps were another four tenths back, and split by Tristan Vautier in the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac he now shares with Sebastien Bourdais. Matheus Leist was a further second in arrears.
In GT Le Mans, Antonio Garcia’s best lap in the #3 Corvette C8.R was fastest at 1min21.898sec, ahead of the two Porsche 911 RSRs of Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber, while Tommy Milner was P4 in the #4. The two BMW M8s were more than a second off the pace.
By contrast, the BMW M6 of Turner Motorsports was top of GT Daytona thanks to Bill Auberlen’s efforts, with Andy Lally second in the Magnus Racing Lamborghini Huracan, just ahead of Mario Farnbacher in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX.
Paul Holton’s Compass Racing McLaren 720S was half a second off but still captured fourth ahead of Alessandro Balzan’s Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488.
| Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 |  Felipe Nasr Pipo Derani | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 28 | 1'15.851 | |
| 2 | 10 |  Renger van der Zande  Ryan Briscoe | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 31 | 1'16.370 | 0.519 |
| 3 | 6 |  Juan Pablo Montoya  Dane Cameron | DPi | Acura DPi | 27 | 1'16.410 | 0.559 |
| 4 | 7 | Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor | DPi | Acura DPi | 28 | 1'16.430 | 0.579 |
| 5 | 77 |  Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez | DPi | Mazda DPi | 28 | 1'16.840 | 0.989 |
| 6 | 5 |  Sébastien Bourdais Tristan Vautier | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 29 | 1'16.845 | 0.994 |
| 7 | 55 | Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell | DPi | Mazda DPi | 29 | 1'16.892 | 1.041 |
| 8 | 85 | Matheus Leist  Stephen Simpson | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 35 | 1'17.932 | 2.081 |
| 9 | 52 | Patrick Kelly  Simon Trummer | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 32 | 1'19.515 | 3.664 |
| 10 | 3 |  Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor | GTLM | Corvette C8.R | 31 | 1'21.898 | 6.047 |
| 11 | 911 | Nick Tandy Frédéric Makowiecki | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | 29 | 1'22.030 | 6.179 |
| 12 | 912 |  Earl Bamber  Laurens Vanthoor | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | 30 | 1'22.141 | 6.290 |
| 13 | 4 | Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner | GTLM | Corvette C8.R | 29 | 1'22.519 | 6.668 |
| 14 | 24 |  Jesse Krohn John Edwards | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 17 | 1'22.988 | 7.137 |
| 15 | 25 |  Bruno Spengler Connor de Phillippi | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 22 | 1'23.279 | 7.428 |
| 16 | 96 | Bill Auberlen Robby Foley | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 32 | 1'24.754 | 8.903 |
| 17 | 44 | Andy Lally John Potter | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 33 | 1'24.930 | 9.079 |
| 18 | 86 |  Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 31 | 1'24.960 | 9.109 |
| 19 | 76 | Jeff Kingsley Paul Holton | GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 32 | 1'25.257 | 9.406 |
| 20 | 63 | Cooper MacNeil  Alessandro Balzan | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 31 | 1'25.353 | 9.502 |
| 21 | 16 | Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 33 | 1'25.572 | 9.721 |
| 22 | 57 |  Alvaro Parente Mikhail Goikhberg | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 31 | 1'25.682 | 9.831 |
| 23 | 14 | Jack Hawksworth Aaron Telitz | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 26 | 1'25.754 | 9.903 |
| 24 | 12 | Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 31 | 1'25.826 | 9.975 |
| 25 | 74 | Gar Robinson Lawson Aschenbach | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 30 | 1'25.931 | 10.080 |
| 26 | 22 | Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 29 | 1'26.261 | 10.410 |
| 27 | 30 | Rob Ferriol Spencer Pumpelly | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 3 | 1'26.382 | 10.531 |
| 28 | 23 | Ian James Roman De Angelis | GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 26 | 1'27.697 | 11.846 |
| View full results | |||||||
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About this article
| Series | IMSA |
| Event | Laguna Seca |
| Author | David Malsher-Lopez |
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