Chip Ganassi Racing’s pink Cadillac V-Series.R broke cover yesterday, and today in first Practice for the 27th annual Motul Petit Le Mans, it was the fastest car on track.
Sebastien Bourdais went to the top of the timesheets aboard the #01 Cadillac, posting a 1:11.013 at the very end of the session – after Renger van der Zande held the top spot for most of the session with a 1:14.440.
Jack Aitken made it a Cadillac 1-2, with a best time of 1:11.489 aboard the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac – and the only drama it had late in the session was a brief off-course excursion from co-driver Tom Blomqvist, the two-time and defending Petit Le Mans winner.
The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Mathieu Jaminet was third, two spots ahead of the #7 Penske Porsche of championship leader Felipe Nasr. Between them in fourth was the fastest of the two RLL BMW M Hybrid V8s, the #24 of Philipp Eng, who put in a late flyer to move up the board.
Tijmen van der Helm was an impressive sixth in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche.
The #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 of Andrea Caldarelli was eighth, and the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 of Jordan Taylor was ninth.
Leading the way in LMP2 was the #74 Riley ORECA LMP2 07, driven by Felipe Fraga to its best time of 1:12.823. Fraga, one of the championship contenders in LMP2, went a quarter-second faster than Ben Hanley in the #2 United Autosports USA car, with Paul di Resta in the #22 United car in third.
Frederik Vesti, Tower Motorsport’s last-minute call-up, was fourth-fastest in the #8 ORECA.
The #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen car was only ninth-fastest in the hands of Jakub Śmiechowski, but with plenty more pace to find over the course of the day. Bronze-rated drivers spent the session finding the limit of adhesion around the challenging circuit but there were no major incidents that interrupted the first practice.
In GTD Pro, the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Jordan Pepper turned in the fastest time. Pepper, back in IMSA action for the first time since Watkins Glen, led the class with a 1:19.048.
Alex Riberas was just 0.059 seconds behind Pepper in the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Riberas was second, followed by the #3 Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims in third.
The #4 Pratt Miller Corvette, however, spent most of the session behind the wall due to a gearbox issue and only completed 12 laps.
Championship leader Laurin Heinrich and the #77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3 R were sixth-fastest in GTD Pro. Co-driver Julien Andlauer did spin at turn five but he was able to continue without any further issues.
Fastest in GTD was the #21 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by defending Le Mans winner Miguel Molina, whose best time was a 1:19.128.
That was two-tenths up on the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini of Loris Spinelli in second, with Spencer Pumpelly running third in the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin. Antonio Fuoco was fourth in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari, while championship leader Philip Ellis was 11th out of 19 GTD cars aboard the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Images © Jack Webster / Dailysportscar.com
