Petit Le Mans: Cadillac, Ferrari, Lamborghini scoop poles
Felipe Nasr turned on the magic to take pole for Action Express Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship finale at Road Atlanta, while Risi Competizione’s Ferrari and the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini headed their classes.

Nasr’s Cadillac DPi-V.R lapped the 2.54-mile course in 68.457sec which Ricky Taylor tried but failed to beat by 0.141sec in the #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05. Taylor did, however, move onto the front row by beating the second AXR Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque by just 0.031sec.
Dane Cameron was fourth in the championship-leading second Acura, only just ahead of Timo Bernhard in the faster of the two Mazda RT24-Ps.
Simon Trummer (JDC Miller Motorsports), Renger van der Zande (Wayne Taylor Racing), Spencer Pigot (Juncos Racing) and Misha Goikhberg (JDC-Miller) completed the Top 10, all in Cadillacs.
Kyle Masson edged Matt McMurry in the LMP2 battle for honors between Performance Tech Motorsports and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.
Ferrari factory driver James Calado gave Risi Competizione the GT Le Mans pole position it threatened from the moment it took to the track yesterday, the Ferrari 488 lapping in 1min15.639sec.
Perhaps most surprising was the fact that Calado’s nearest competitor was Antonio Garcia, a mere 0.063sec slower in the Corvette C7.R that will make its swansong tomorrow after six glorious years in the GTLM category.
Philipp Eng did a great job in the #24 BMW M8 to beat both Porsche 911 RSRs, both Ford GTs, the second Corvette and his own BMW teammate and newest IndyCar megastar Colton Herta.
Ricky Feller did an excellent job in the Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS to set a new GT Daytona track record – only to see his times deleted because his team touched the car during a red flag period.
That session stoppage was caused by Robby Foley parking his Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 in the Turn 10 gravel at the end of his out lap.
Therefore Corey Lewis scored his second consecutive pole position for Paul Miller Racing – and initially appeared to be leading a Lamborghini as series debutant Shinya Michimi slotted in second just 0.008sec behind.
However, Michimi too had his times deleted, elevating Ben Keating to second in the Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG-GT3 ahead of Jeff Westphal in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.
Justin Marks edged Meyer Shank Racing Acura teammate Christina Nielsen to snatch fourth by one-tenth of a second.
Zacharie Robichon’s Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R was sixth ahead of the AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC Fs.
The raceday warm-up begins at 9.30am local (Eastern) time, with the 22nd Motul Petit Le Mans taking the green flag at 12.05pm.
UPDATE: Corvette's #3 entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as the car was "found to be out of compliance in post-qualifying inspection" according to a team statement.
It promotes the #24 BMW to second in class ahead of the points-leading #912 Porsche.
Session results:
Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 31 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'08.457 | |
2 | 7 | | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'08.598 | 0.141 |
3 | 5 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'08.629 | 0.172 |
4 | 6 | | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'08.802 | 0.345 |
5 | 77 | | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'08.847 | 0.390 |
6 | 55 | | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'09.204 | 0.747 |
7 | 84 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.243 | 0.786 |
8 | 10 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.253 | 0.796 |
9 | 50 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.507 | 1.050 |
10 | 85 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.673 | 1.216 |
11 | 38 | | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1'10.722 | 2.265 |
12 | 52 | | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1'10.853 | 2.396 |
13 | 54 | | DPi | Nissan DPi | 1'11.511 | 3.054 |
14 | 62 | | GTLM | Ferrari 488 GTE | 1'15.639 | 7.182 |
15 | 3 | | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'15.702 | 7.245 |
16 | 24 | | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'15.784 | 7.327 |
17 | 912 | | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'15.842 | 7.385 |
18 | 66 | | GTLM | Ford GT | 1'15.856 | 7.399 |
19 | 67 | | GTLM | Ford GT | 1'15.967 | 7.510 |
20 | 911 | | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'16.037 | 7.580 |
21 | 4 | | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'16.048 | 7.591 |
22 | 25 | | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'16.327 | 7.870 |
23 | 48 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'19.530 | 11.073 |
24 | 33 | | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'19.665 | 11.208 |
25 | 63 | | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'19.721 | 11.264 |
26 | 86 | | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'19.820 | 11.363 |
27 | 57 | | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'19.952 | 11.495 |
28 | 9 | | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'20.200 | 11.743 |
29 | 14 | | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'20.260 | 11.803 |
30 | 12 | | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'20.323 | 11.866 |
31 | 44 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'21.234 | 12.777 |
32 | 29 | | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | ||
33 | 47 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | ||
34 | 96 | | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | ||
View full results |

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About this article
Series | IMSA |
Event | Road Atlanta |
Author | David Malsher-Lopez |
Petit Le Mans: Cadillac, Ferrari, Lamborghini scoop poles
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