IMSA Road Atlanta: Nasr keeps Action Express on top in FP2
Felipe Nasr ensured Action Express Racing retained its position of preeminence as IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams continued to prepare for tomorrow’s six-hour race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Ex-Formula 1 racer Nasr lapped the 2.54-mile course in 69.023sec, half a second faster than another Cadillac DPi-V.R of Renger van der Zande, who in turn was a mere 0.043sec ahead of Tristan Nunez’s fine effort in the fastest of the two Mazda RT24-Ps.
Sebastien Bourdais’ 69.753 put the #5 JDC-Miller Cadillac fractionally ahead of Harry Tincknell in the second Mazda, while the Acura Team Penske ARX-05s were almost a full second off the pace.
Simon Trummer put PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports top of the two LMP2 entries, around 2.5sec behind the top DPi time.
Connor De Phillippi, who so nearly won at VIR last week, topped GT Le Mans in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan-run BMW M8 by almost half a second, with Laurens Vanthoor second in the Porsche 911 RSR and Antonio Garcia third for Corvette Racing.
GT Daytona promises a frantic scrap, both for this evening’s qualifying session and tomorrow’s race, with 11 cars covered by 0.85sec. Steijn Schothorst’s Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan – which this weekend he’ll share with the underrated Richard Heistand and GT star Richard Westbrook – clocked a 1min20.346sec lap.
That was 0.133sec faster than Jan Heylen, who joins Pat Long and Ryan Hardwick in the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R this weekend, and 0.155 ahead of Frankie Montecalvo’s Lexus RC F of AIM Vasser-Sullivan.
The two Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSXs sandwiched Robby Foley’s best in the Turner Motorsports BMW M6, while Jeff Westphal overcame a turbocharger-induced delay to the start of his track time to take seventh for WeatherTech Racing’s Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488.
Qualifying begins at 6.35pm local (Eastern) time.
FP2 results:
| Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 |  Felipe Nasr  Filipe Albuquerque Pipo Derani | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.023 | |
| 2 | 10 |  Renger van der Zande  Ryan Briscoe | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.534 | 0.511 |
| 3 | 77 |  Oliver Jarvis  Tristan Nunez  Olivier Pla | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'09.577 | 0.554 |
| 4 | 5 | Joao Barbosa Sébastien Bourdais Tristan Vautier | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.753 | 0.730 |
| 5 | 55 | Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell Ryan Hunter-Reay | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'09.794 | 0.771 |
| 6 | 6 |  Juan Pablo Montoya Dane Cameron | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'09.954 | 0.931 |
| 7 | 7 | Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'09.957 | 0.934 |
| 8 | 85 | Matheus Leist  Stephen Simpson | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'10.638 | 1.615 |
| 9 | 52 | Patrick Kelly  Simon Trummer Scott Huffaker | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'11.570 | 2.547 |
| 10 | 18 | Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Colin Braun | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'12.334 | 3.311 |
| 11 | 25 |  Bruno Spengler Connor de Phillippi | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'16.875 | 7.852 |
| 12 | 912 |  Earl Bamber  Laurens Vanthoor | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | 1'17.351 | 8.328 |
| 13 | 3 |  Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor | GTLM | Corvette C8.R | 1'17.383 | 8.360 |
| 14 | 24 |  Jesse Krohn John Edwards | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'17.415 | 8.392 |
| 15 | 911 | Nick Tandy Frédéric Makowiecki | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | 1'17.442 | 8.419 |
| 16 | 4 | Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner | GTLM | Corvette C8.R | 1'17.558 | 8.535 |
| 17 | 11 | Richard Heistand Steijn Schothorst Richard Westbrook | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'20.346 | 11.323 |
| 18 | 16 | Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long Jan Heylen | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'20.479 | 11.456 |
| 19 | 12 | Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'20.501 | 11.478 |
| 20 | 86 |  Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry  Shinya Michimi | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'20.666 | 11.643 |
| 21 | 96 | Bill Auberlen Robby Foley Dillon Machavern | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'20.879 | 11.856 |
| 22 | 57 | Alvaro Parente Mikhail Goikhberg Trent Hindman | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'20.929 | 11.906 |
| 23 | 63 | Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander Jeff Westphal | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'20.973 | 11.950 |
| 24 | 14 | Jack Hawksworth Michael de Quesada Daniel Morad | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'20.983 | 11.960 |
| 25 | 44 | Andy Lally John Potter Spencer Pumpelly | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'21.031 | 12.008 |
| 26 | 74 | Gar Robinson Lawson Aschenbach Ben Keating | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'21.066 | 12.043 |
| 27 | 48 | Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Corey Lewis | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'21.192 | 12.169 |
| 28 | 23 | Ian James Roman De Angelis | GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'21.703 | 12.680 |
| View full results | ||||||
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