Laguna Seca IMSA: Taylor heads Acura 1-2 in FP3
Acura Team Penske maintained its supremacy in third practice for this weekend's Laguna Seca IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round, with Ricky Taylor setting the pace in the #7 car.

Taylor laid down a benchmark of 1m15.497s early on in the one-hour Saturday morning session, but the #7 Acura caused a red flag when Helio Castroneves beached the pace-setting ARX-05 in the gravel at the top of the Corkscrew.
Castroneves avoided picking up any significant damage, though, and the car was back out for the final part of the session, as championship leader Juan Pablo Montoya made a late jump up to second in the sister #6 machine with a 1m15.857s effort.
Best of the rest was the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, which has been boosted by Balance of Performance adjustments for this round, with Renger van der Zande ending up 0.538s off the pace in third.
Oliver Jarvis's early benchmark behind the wheel of the #77 Mazda RT24-P was enough for fourth in the end, ahead of the #5 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque and the second of the Joest-run Mazdas, the #55 car of Harry Tincknell.
The title-contending #31 AXR Cadillac ended up down in ninth, with ex-Formula 1 racer Felipe Nasr's best effort putting that car 1.104s off the pace.
Kyle Masson's time of 1m18.251s was enough to put Performance Tech ahead of sole LMP2 rival PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.
Ford set the pace in GT Le Mans with Richard Westbrook setting a 1m22.034s in the #67 car, 0.230s ahead of Tom Blomqvist's best effort in the #24 BMW M8 GTE.
Dirk Muller made it two Fords inside the top three in the #66 GT, ahead of Oliver Gavin in the quicker of the Corvette C7.Rs, while both Porsche 911 RSRs ended up propping up the class order in seventh and eighth places.
Turner Motorsports set the pace in GT Daytona courtesy of Robby Foley's 1m24.523s effort in the #96 BMW M6 GT3, a little under two tenths clear of Corey Lewis in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
Andy Lally was third-fastest in Magnus Racing's Lambo ahead of the points-leading Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 of Trent Hindman.
Session results:
Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7 | | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'15.497 | |
2 | 6 | | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'15.857 | 0.360 |
3 | 10 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'16.035 | 0.538 |
4 | 77 | | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'16.088 | 0.591 |
5 | 5 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'16.194 | 0.697 |
6 | 55 | | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'16.296 | 0.799 |
7 | 85 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'16.311 | 0.814 |
8 | 54 | | DPi | Nissan DPi | 1'16.460 | 0.963 |
9 | 31 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'16.601 | 1.104 |
10 | 84 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'16.978 | 1.481 |
11 | 38 | | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1'18.251 | 2.754 |
12 | 52 | | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1'19.085 | 3.588 |
13 | 67 | | GTLM | Ford GT | 1'22.034 | 6.537 |
14 | 25 | | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'22.264 | 6.767 |
15 | 66 | | GTLM | Ford GT | 1'22.518 | 7.021 |
16 | 4 | | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'22.567 | 7.070 |
17 | 3 | | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'22.635 | 7.138 |
18 | 24 | | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'22.729 | 7.232 |
19 | 911 | | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'22.839 | 7.342 |
20 | 912 | | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'23.058 | 7.561 |
21 | 96 | | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'24.523 | 9.026 |
22 | 48 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'24.720 | 9.223 |
23 | 44 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'24.960 | 9.463 |
24 | 86 | | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'25.061 | 9.564 |
25 | 33 | | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'25.070 | 9.573 |
26 | 12 | | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'25.127 | 9.630 |
27 | 9 | | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'25.159 | 9.662 |
28 | 63 | | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'25.210 | 9.713 |
29 | 14 | | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'25.285 | 9.788 |
30 | 76 | | GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 1'25.344 | 9.847 |
31 | 57 | | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'25.434 | 9.937 |
32 | 73 | | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 0.000 | |
View full results |

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About this article
Series | IMSA |
Event | Laguna Seca |
Author | Jamie Klein |
Laguna Seca IMSA: Taylor heads Acura 1-2 in FP3
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