Thursday’s opening practice session for Motul Petit Le Mans began on damp, drying track soaked by overnight rains. Mild temperatures of 60 degrees and overcast skies kept speeds from reaching their ultimate potential, and for much of the session, LMP2 cars led the lap times as the GTP car struggled to get the tires to come in.
At the end of the session, Sebastien Bourdais set the fastest lap in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, despite not setting a best time in any sector except the very short first sector. His 1m11.674s time around the 2.54 mile, 12-turn Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta was good for an average speed of 127.58mph. The pair of Penske Porsche Motorsport 963s followed, Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 just 0.046s off Bourdais’s best. Matt Campbell was the quickest of the drivers in the No. 7, turning a best lap of 1m11.907s. Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, who drove most of the session after lacking seat time in a recent test at Road Atlanta, was fourth, followed by Marco Wittmann in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8. The top eight GTP cars were covered by a second.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1406]
Ben Hanley topped LMP2 in the No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA with a 1m13.919s lap. Alex Quinn was second, 0.26s back in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports entry, followed by Mikkel Jensen in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA. The 52 and 11 are locked in a tight battle for the LMP2 title.
Garett Grist was the quickest of the LMP3 drivers with a 1m16.732s lap in the No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier, more than a second clear of Orey Fidani in the No. 13 AWA Duqueine. Gabby Chaves was third at 1m17.851s as Andretti Autosport makes its return to the class.
With WeatherTech Racing trying to win the Michelin Endurance Cup championship in GTD PRO, Jules Gounon topping the class and GT overall in the team’s No. 79 Mercedes AMG was a good start. His 1m20.279s (113.90mph) time was 0.148s better than Mirko Bortolotti in the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. Those two were the only GTD PRO cars in the top 10 GT cars overall, as Alessandro Pier Guidi’s 1m21.142s in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 was only good for 11th among the GT cars. Antonio Garcia (No. 3 Corvette Racing C8.R) and David Pittard (No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3) completed the top five in GTD PRO.
Bill Auberlen posted the top time in GTD, his 1m20.290s lap in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 falling 0.011s short of topping the GT times overall. Jan Heylen was second quick in the return of Wright Motorsports’ No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3R to the series, 0.129s back of Auberlen. Madison Snow was third for already-crowned GTD champions Paul Miller Racing, posting a 1m20.591s lap in the No. 1 BMW. Roman De Angelis (No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin) and Mikael Grenier (No. 32 Korthoff/PrestonMotorsports Mercedes AMG) were the other drivers in the top five.
The 1h30m session was interrupted by two red flags, the first coming for Antonio Fuoco spinning the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 in Turn 1 and smashing the rear of the car against the wall on drivers’ left, heavily damaging the Ferrari and requiring the wall to be repositioned. The second came when Jonathan Woolridge in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier LMP3 made contact with the rear of the No. 6 PPM Porsche 963, leaving debris on track and eventually rolling the Ligier to a stop on track.
Up next: A 1h45m split Practice 2 at 2:35 p.m. ET.