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Edition

Australia
Practice report

IMSA Road Atlanta: Derani, AXR lead opening practice

Pipo Derani’s Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R led the first practice session for this weekend’s six-hour IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

#31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi, DPi: Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr, Filipe Albuquerque

#31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi, DPi: Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr, Filipe Albuquerque

Richard Dole / Motorsport Images

Derani’s 69.743sec lap of the 2.54-mile course was 0.389sec clear of the similar JDC-Miller car of Sebastien Bourdais who in turn was over a quarter-second clear of the fastest turbocharged prototype.

That honor went to Harry Tincknell with his 41st and final lap of the session in the #55 Mazda RT24-P, which just inched him ahead of Renger van der Zande in a third Cadillac, that of Wayne Taylor Racing.

Oliver Jarvis made it two Mazdas in the top five, 0.2sec ahead of Helio Castroneves in the only Acura ARX-05 that set a representative time. The #6 car of Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron had a mechanical issue on an out lap.

Kyle Tilley of Era Motorsport and Simon Trummer of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport, driving the only LMP2 cars participating in this weekend’s race, were seventh and ninth overall, only 1.15 and 1.6sec respectively off the ultimate pace.

The Porsche 911 RSRs of Earl Bamber and Frederic Makowiecki were a mere 0.014sec apart at the head of the GT Le Mans field, with John Edwards 0.185sec behind in the #24 BMW M8, followed by the two Corvette C8s.

Andy Lally drove Magnus Racing’s Lamborghini Huracan to the top of the times in GT Daytona, just 0.048sec quicker than Paul Miller Racing’s similar machine in the hands of Bryan Sellers.

Bill Auberlen, who last week scored his 61st IMSA victory at VIR, grabbed third for Turner Motorsports ahead of Ryan Hardwick in the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R and Alvaro Parente in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX.

Second practice begins at 2.25pm local Eastern Time, with qualifying at 6.35pm.

FP1 results:

 
Cla Num Driver Class Chassis Time Gap
1 31 Brazil Felipe Nasr
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
Brazil Pipo Derani
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'09.743
2 5 Portugal Joao Barbosa
France Sébastien Bourdais
France Tristan Vautier
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'10.132 0.389
3 55 United States Jonathan Bomarito
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
United States Ryan Hunter-Reay
DPi Mazda DPi 1'10.404 0.661
4 10 Netherlands Renger van der Zande
Australia Ryan Briscoe
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'10.482 0.739
5 77 United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United States Tristan Nunez
France Olivier Pla
DPi Mazda DPi 1'10.673 0.930
6 7 Brazil Helio Castroneves
United States Ricky Taylor
DPi Acura DPi 1'10.882 1.139
7 18 United States Dwight Merriman
United Kingdom Kyle Tilley
United States Colin Braun
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'10.910 1.167
8 85 Brazil Matheus Leist
South Africa Stephen Simpson
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'11.073 1.330
9 52 United States Patrick Kelly
Switzerland Simon Trummer
Scott Huffaker
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'11.369 1.626
10 912 New Zealand Earl Bamber
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor
GTLM Porsche 911 RSR - 19 1'17.552 7.809
11 911 United Kingdom Nick Tandy
France Frédéric Makowiecki
GTLM Porsche 911 RSR - 19 1'17.566 7.823
12 24 Finland Jesse Krohn
United States John Edwards
GTLM BMW M8 GTE 1'17.751 8.008
13 4 United Kingdom Oliver Gavin
United States Tommy Milner
GTLM Corvette C8.R 1'17.775 8.032
14 3 Spain Antonio Garcia
United States Jordan Taylor
GTLM Corvette C8.R 1'18.225 8.482
15 25 Canada Bruno Spengler
United States Connor de Phillippi
GTLM BMW M8 GTE 1'18.294 8.551
16 44 United States Andy Lally
United States John Potter
United States Spencer Pumpelly
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'20.538 10.795
17 48 United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
United States Corey Lewis
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'20.586 10.843
18 96 United States Bill Auberlen
United States Robby Foley
United States Dillon Machavern
GTD BMW M6 GT3 1'20.713 10.970
19 16 United States Ryan Hardwick
United States Patrick Long
Belgium Jan Heylen
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'20.914 11.171
20 57 Portugal Alvaro Parente
Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
United States Trent Hindman
GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'21.006 11.263
21 14 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United States Michael de Quesada
Canada Daniel Morad
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1'21.022 11.279
22 12 United States Townsend Bell
United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Aaron Telitz
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1'21.031 11.288
23 63 United States Cooper MacNeil
Finland Toni Vilander
United States Jeff Westphal
GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 1'21.034 11.291
24 74 United States Gar Robinson
United States Lawson Aschenbach
United States Ben Keating
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 1'21.130 11.387
25 86 Germany Mario Farnbacher
United States Matt McMurry
Japan Shinya Michimi
GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'21.132 11.389
26 11 United States Richard Heistand
Netherlands Steijn Schothorst
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'21.258 11.515
27 23 United Kingdom Ian James
Canada Roman De Angelis
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1'24.783 15.040
28 6 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya
United States Dane Cameron
DPi Acura DPi 0.000

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