Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s #10 Acura ARX-06 set the fastest time in opening practice for the Motul Course de Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
52 minutes into Friday afternoon’s session, Filipe Albuquerque set the fastest time in GTP at 1:14.434. Around the recently resurfaced Laguna Seca Raceway, his time was 2.3 seconds quicker than the fastest GTP time in this session last year – and a new course record by four-tenths of a second.
The top three were only separated by 89 milliseconds. Philipp Eng previously held the fastest lap in the #24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, and his time of 1:14.453 was only 0.019s behind the best from Albuquerque.
Mathieu Jaminet was third-fastest in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, followed by the red and black #40 WTRAndretti Acura of Louis Deletraz in fourth.
The top five GTP cars reset the course record in class, including the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R in fifth. But 22 minutes in, Jack Aitken – the first driver to dip under the old course record – had a wobble into turn four and went off into the concrete barriers, bringing out a lengthy red flag.
Aitken was unhurt, but the Action Express Racing Cadillac suffered significant damage to the left front and will not return until Saturday for Practice 2 and Qualifying.
In GTD Pro, Antonio Garcia set the early benchmark aboard the #3 Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R – setting three fast laps in succession with a best time of 1:21.375.
Laurin Heinrich went off at turn five and brought out a very brief red flag at the 39-minute mark, but Heinrich was able to get going again in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.
To the delight of Rexy’s fans, the AO Racing Porsche roared to the top of the leaderboard in the final minutes, as Seb Priaulx took the fastest time with a 1:21.256 – then improved to a 1:21.182. That time was also a new course record for GTD outright, by less than two seconds – and in fact, 22 of the 24 GTD Pro and GTD cars eclipsed the previous GTD Pro course record from qualifying in 2023!
Despite a fuel pump issue for the #3, Garcia’s best time was still good for second in GTD Pro, with the other Pratt Miller Corvette, the #4 of Nicky Catsburg, just a couple hundredths behind him in third.
Philip Ellis was fastest in GTD aboard the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, with a best lap of 1:21.475 – that was a new course record in the class, by more than two seconds over the time set by his co-driver Russell Ward last year.
Loris Spinelli was less than a tenth off in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, followed by Robby Foley in the #557 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 in third.
Images © Michael L. Levitt / IMSA
