Filipe Albuquerque topped the third practice session of the Roar test on Saturday morning in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 with a best lap time of 1:34.947 before the weather, after a cool and overcast start, turned wet and windy.
The session saw several interruptions for Red flag incidents, the most serious of which saw the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX in real trouble after Kyffin Simpson was off-track on an out-lap, caught out on an increasingly slippery surface on cold tyres, unlucky to find a gap in the barriers at T6 with the Acura finding the end of the armco with the right rear corner. The team spent the rest of the day assessing the damage to the chassis, the engine and more. The car comprehensively de-constructed by nightfall having not lapped since the incident.
Bad news for the sole GTD Acura was balanced by the clean sweep of the sessions overall by the Acura DPis.
The session though was not a one-two for the ARX 05s this time as Mike Conway went second fastest in the #31 Whelen/ Action Express Cadillac, four-tenths off the overall pace and ahead of Helio Castroneves in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
Ferdinand Habsburg topped LMP2 in the #8 Tower Motorsport’s Oreca (1:36.710)
Sebastian Priaulx topped LMP3 with a 1:43.395 in the #33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier.
The GTD classes again saw a non-Pro car top the times, the #98 NorthWest AMR Vantage GT3 of David Pittard fastest with a 1:36.345, a couple of tenths ahead of the #15 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, a couple of tenths shy of Pittard’s effort.
