For the second competitive session in a row, the gold and black #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R was the fastest car around Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with Sebastien Bourdais behind the wheel.
Bourdais set the fastest time in second practice for the 26th annual Motul Petit Le Mans, and he was the first driver to surpass the 70-second barrier today.
Within the final 15 minutes, a qualifying simulation run from Bourdais saw the Frenchman set a time of 1:09.671 to make him the fastest man on track.
But all four GTP manufacturers were represented inside the top four in the afternoon practice.
Augusto Farfus went second fastest in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, he held the top time until the final few minutes at 1:10.103.
In third place was the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 driven by Felipe Nasr, for the second consecutive session.
Louis Deletraz was fourth-fastest in the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 for WTRAndretti.
The #35 TDS Racing Oreca LMP2 07 brought out the only red flag of the session. After 35 minutes, Giedo van der Garde went off at turn three and hit the barriers. The Dutchman tried to drive back to the pits, but his car was too damaged to continue on.
It’s a repair job on one side of the TDS Racing garage – but on the other, Scott Huffaker set the pace in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca with a best lap of 1:13.357.
Huffaker’s best time was two-tenths quicker than Paul-Loup Chatin in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca – and amazingly enough, Chatin’s best lap in the car was only a tenth faster than the best time set by Bronze-graded Ben Keating!
Young Nolan Siegel was third-fastest in LMP2 in the CrowdStrike by APR #04.
Garett Grist set the pace in LMP3 once again, leading the class aboard the #30 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 with a time of 1:16.749.
Felipe Fraga, driving for champion-elect Riley Technologies, was second in the #74 Riley Ligier; Glenn van Berlo was third in the #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier.
The #85 JDC Miller Motorsports Duquiene D08 was caught up in a cross-class collision with the #83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2. Rasmus Lindh made contact with Michelle Gatting down the backstretch, which damaged the left rear of the #85 Duquiene. Both cars retreated to the pits.
Ahead of Corvette Racing’s final race as the single factory-run team, it was Antonio Garcia who set the fastest time in GTD Pro late in the session. Garcia went to the top with a time of 1:19.543.
Not far behind was Daniel Serra who was second-fastest in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, who set a 1:19.725.
GTD Pro champion-elect Jack Hawksworth was third in class aboard the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, in between the two GTD class leaders.
Madison Snow was fastest in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW, just 0.009 seconds ahead of Hawksworth and less than a tenth ahead of Aaron Telitz in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus.
The #32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Mike Skeen was third-fastest in GTD.
Only the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari did not set a time as it was still being repaired following Antonio Fuoco’s crash in Practice 1 earlier today.
Night-time practice begins later today at 7:30 PM ET.
Images © Martin W. Spetz
