It’s a little less of a surprise now than it would have been a few weeks ago, but the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie was still the quickest car in nighttime Practice 3 for the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans. It’s the first time that the V12-powered Hypercar has ever led an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice session.
Coming off an impressive showing for the Valkyrie at the WEC 6 Hours of Fuji, Ross Gunn set the #23 Valkyrie’s fastest time during the night practice session. And while many teams and drivers were focused on logging incident-free laps in preparation for Saturday’s race, Gunn and the #23 Aston Martin still had the top time on the leaderboard, setting a 1:11.985 about halfway into the session.
Behind him was Renger van der Zande in the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06, who set a 1:11.994 to jump up the leaderboard with less than 15 minutes left.
The #93 MSR Acura was conspicuous by its absence from most of Practice 3 – the red and white car suffered an electrical issue during Practice 2 in the afternoon, and only turned its first laps with less than 20 minutes to go.
GTP Championship leader Matt Campbell in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 (1:12.048) was third-fastest, followed by Ricky Taylor in the blue #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R (1:12.150) in fourth, and Robin Frijns in the #25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 (1:12.185) in fifth.
Mikkel Jensen set the top time in LMP2 for TDS Racing, setting a 1:12.697 in the #11 ORECA 07-Gibson.
Behind him were Tom Dillmann (#43 Inter Europol Competition) in second, Ben Hanley (#2 United Autosports USA), Nicklas Nielsen (#88 AF Corse), and Alex Quinn (#04 Crowdstrike by APR).
Vasser Sullivan Racing’s Lexus RC F GT3s led their respective GT categories, with two championship-winning former co-drivers setting the pace.
Ben Barnicoat was quickest in GTD PRO aboard the #14 Lexus, setting a 1:19.407. He was only outdone by GTD leader Jack Hawksworth in the #12 Lexus, whose best time was a 1:19.322. This was despite a suspension problem on the #12 car, which was later repaired.
Seven manufacturers were inside the top five in GTD PRO: Sebastian Priaulx (#64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3) was second, followed by Nico Varrone (#4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R) in third.
In fourth was the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, which had a fuel pump issue in Practice 2, recovered from that, and finished fourth-quickest with Giacomo Altoè behind the wheel. Laurin Heinrich (#77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R) was fifth in class.
In GTD, Frederik Schandorff (#70 Inception Racing Ferrari) was second ahead of Daniel Serra (#34 Conquest Racing Ferrari) in third. Robby Foley (#96 Turner Motorsport BMW) and Scott Andrews (#80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG) completed the top five.
It was a session with no red flags – the most notable incident came early on when Era Motorsport’s Tobias Lütke went off at turn six, but he was able to drive the #18 ORECA LMP2 out of the gravel trap. All other Bronze and Silver drivers were able to complete their required nighttime running to be eligible to drive in Saturday’s race after sunset.
Qualifying for the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans starts tomorrow afternoon at 3:20 PM ET.
Feature image © Jack Webster / dailysportscar.com
