BRASELTON, Ga. - If the results of practice are any indication – and they typically are – the competition throughout all four classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be nail-biting and tight in Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans.
Three practices were held Thursday, including an important 90-minute night session in preparation for the 10-hour season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.
The close competition was exemplified by the fact that in only one class did the same car pace its category in all three practices. The top-tier Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class was so tight, in fact, that the top two laps of the day were separated by a scant .002 seconds.
In DPi, the championship-leading No. 6 Acura Team Penske with driver Dane Cameron was fastest in the opening practice with a lap of one minute, 9.095 seconds (132.339 mph) around the 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course. That was bettered by an eyelash in the second practice, when the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi and driver Felipe Nasr was clocked at 1:09.093 (132.343 mph).
Nasr and teammate Pipo Derani trail Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya by 12 points in the DPi driver standings. Likewise, the No. 6 leads the No. 31 by 12 points in the team chase. Reigning Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud is the third driver this weekend in the Team Penske entry, with Eric Curran joining Nasr and Derani in the No. 31, the defending DPi champion that was also fastest in the night practice at 1:09.455.
In GT Le Mans (GTLM), the No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT driven by Dirk Mueller turned the top lap in class, 1:16.552, in the night practice. The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE was second overall and fastest in the second practice, at 1:16.708 (119.204 mph) with Daniel Serra at the wheel.
In GT Daytona (GTD), the No. 33 Riley Motorsports – Team AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 ran best for the day, but not by much. Felipe Fraga’s lap of 1:19.275 (115.345 mph) in the second session was a hair better than the 1:19.306 (115.299 mph) circuit run by Bill Auberlen in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 in the morning practice.
The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class was the only one that saw a consistent leader across all three practices. The No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 topped each session, its best lap of 1:11.025 (128.743 mph) logged with Gabriel Aubry behind the wheel in the second practice.
A fourth WeatherTech Championship practice starts at 11:15 a.m. ET Friday. Qualifying to determine the starting grid will be held Friday afternoon.
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