The first rule of Petit Le Mans is make to the night, and all but six cars have done so. Of the cars still going, 17 are on their respective lead laps – a lower number than might be expected, however the entire third quarter was caution-free, the …
The first rule of Petit Le Mans is make to the night, and all but six cars have done so. Of the cars still going, 17 are on their respective lead laps – a lower number than might be expected, however the entire third quarter was caution-free, the last green flag coming with 5h32m left in the race.
The No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 came on strong in the late afternoon, and Filipe Albuquerque set the car’s best lap of the day as the last vestiges of twilight faded from the sky. Albuquerque led at the three-quarter mark.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 is the closest pursuer, usually within 10s, despite having to serve a drive-through penalty for Nick Tandy making contact with the No. 47 Cetilar Ferrari 296. Mathieu Jaminet was wheeling the No. 6 with two-and-a-half hours to go.
The sister PPM Porsche with Matt Campbell at the wheel had a long pit stop to replace a fuel flow meter, and then fell off the lead lap immediately after another stop when he slid off Turn 3 on fresh, cold tires.
Both the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R and the No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura made it onto the lead lap, but a puncture for the No. 40 dropped it back a lap again, leaving the No. 01 the third and last car on the lead lap.
The No. 7 Porsche is currently on a different pit stop sequence, going 14-15m longer than the rest of the contenders, which could certainly become a factor at the end.
Hunter McElrea had the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA in the lead of LMP2, which portends well for the team as it looks to take the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. McElrea was followed by Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 88 AF Corse entry and the No. 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA driven by Josh Burdon.
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The No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports team of Nick Boulle, Tom Dillmann and Jakub Smiechowski is fourth, enough to claim the championship.
After an early brake problem, the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R was leading GTD PRO, but was due for a pit stop being off sequence from most of the field. Jordan Pepper was wheeling the No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 in second, and that car is looking like a strong contender for the win. Daniel Serra was third in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3.
In the GTD PRO championship picture, AO Racing is still in position to take the title unless Ross Gunn can haul himself up from the fourth place he was running with 2.5h to go and into second.
Winward Racing is in the middle of the GTD pack, but that will be more than enough to clinch the title. Defending PLM winners Forte Racing led the class with Loris Spinelli at the wheel of the No. 78 Lamborghini. Mikael Grenier, who was not feeling well earlier but came back refreshed after a visit to medical, was in pursuit in the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG, followed by Parker Thompson in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.
The only retirement during the third quarter was the No. 22 United Autosports ORECA LMP2 car, leaving the team packing up early after a miserable day.
Connor De Phillippi set a time far quicker than anybody else a third of the way into the first practice session for the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America, and while competitors closed the gap, his time held until the final five minutes. Filipe …
Connor De Phillippi set a time far quicker than anybody else a third of the way into the first practice session for the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America, and while competitors closed the gap, his time held until the final five minutes. Filipe Albuquerque then put the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti at the top with a1m51.089s time (131.18mph), 0.411s faster than De Phillippi’s 1m51.5s lap in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8.
“Not much [speed left out there],” said Albuquerque, who would love to have the No. 10 on pole tomorrow for teammate Ricky Taylor’s birthday. “It was a bit tricky to drive the track. When we were testing here, we were way faster. I think the track is just coming in, coming in. We did a qualifying sim on fresh tires.
“It’s always good to be P1 to tell my mom and friends, but it does not go beyond that.”
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There might have been more improvements in the final minutes as other teams attempted qualifying simulations in conditions — warm and humid — similar to what they’ll see tomorrow afternoon, but the session was cut short by Danny Formal getting the No. 45 GTD-class WTRAndretti Lamborghini Huracán stuck in the gravel in Turn 14.
Sebastien Bourdais set the third-quickest time in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R at 1m51.666s, followed by Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, winner at Road America a year ago. The second WTRAndretti Acura completed the top five in the hands of Louis Delétraz.
Paul DiResta led LMP2 for United Autosports, turning a 1m53.486s lap in the No. 22 ORECA, good for a 128.41mph average around the 4.048-mile circuit. That time was substantially quicker than the rest of the field, led by Tom Dillman in the No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, 0.607s back. Ben Hanley was third for United Autosports in the No. 2 at 1m54.177s.
Frederik Schandorff was the quickest of the GTD runners by quite a margin, posting a time 0.629s faster than the rest, and leading all the GTD PRO entries with a 2m05.242s time (116.36mph) in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.
Antonio Garcia led the GTD PRO field in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R that won last time out at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Garcia’s 2m05.369s lap led the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 in the hands of Harry Tincknell by 0.219s.
Nicky Catsburg put the second Corvette into the top three with a 2m05.676s lap, while Laurin Heinrich was fourth in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, in which co-driver Julien Andlauer would later make light contact with a track barrier. Bryan Sellers in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 completed the top five.
Six-tenths of a second behind Schandorff, and ninth GT car overall, Loris Spinelli was second in GTD with a 2m05.871s lap in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. Patrick Gallagher was third in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 with a 2m05.955s lap. Roman De Angelis (No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo) and Kenton Koch (No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG) completed the top five in GTD.
Aside from the session-ending red flag, the session was interrupted for five minutes when Nick Boulle took the No. 52 ORECA off course in Turn 14, taking out a trackside sign and leaving some debris on the track.
The second practice session for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Road America takes place at 9:55am local time tomorrow, 10:55am ET. It will be the last practice session ahead of qualifying late tomorrow afternoon.
Two years ago, Filipe Albuquerque made one of the most spectacular passes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season at Road America, putting two wheels on the grass while fighting through traffic to put the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing …
Two years ago, Filipe Albuquerque made one of the most spectacular passes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season at Road America, putting two wheels on the grass while fighting through traffic to put the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 in his mirrors, win the race for himself, Ricky Taylor and the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura squad, and keep the team in the championship fight.
Heading back to the Wisconsin circuit two years later, the desire to win burns strong in Albuquerque, for a different reason: With the championship off the table, it’s win or nothing.
“We are completely out of the championship because it’s only three races left,” explains Albuquerque. “We have nothing to lose. Unfortunately, Watkins Glen, that failure that we had in a wheel completely put us out of the championship — we were already in a tough position. Now we just go for single wins, put all the risks we have and make it happen.
“With that said, we need the luck to kind of start turning around and eventually we can make something happen. At Road America in the past we won there. We were competitive last year. So I just hope that we can be again competitive. We just need to hit our marks, try to get the pole position and then, you know, leave the car in P1. At this point, second place doesn’t mean anything for us; it’s definitely a win or nothing.”
For Albuquerque (left) and teammate Ricky Taylor, second places just won’t cut it. Richard Dole/Lumen
Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor are 380 points from championship leaders Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963. That was in large part due to a wheel failure and DNF for the No. 10 Acura in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, the result of slight, but just in the wrong spot, contact between Albuquerque and Cameron in the Porsche. To make up the gap, there are, realistically, only around 140 points available to gain each weekend, and even that would require pole and victory for the No. 10 Acura in each race, with the No. 7 finishing last each time out.
The WTRAndretti sister car, the No. 40 of Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor, though, is 199 points off the championship lead. Still quite a feat to make it happen, but not impossible. The one circumstance where “win or nothing” doesn’t apply for Albuquerque? If there were an opportunity to help his teammates.
“100 percent, we are going to try to help them as much as we can. And if that will cost us a win, we will back off for them to win,” he admits. “It’s those things that we talked about in the past — what if this situation happens or not — but I take it without any team call needed, because I’m a team player and know the situation. At the end of the day, we are working for a manufacturer, which is Acura. We are where we are for different reasons, and they are a bit ahead on the road. So if they can go for the win, we’ve got to support them as much as we can, take more bold strategy and car setup to see if it works, because we are the ones with nothing to lose.”
In the past two races at Road America, the No. 10 has a first and a third — an average of second. If Albuquerque and Taylor were in the championship hunt, that average would be perfectly acceptable; but this time it’s only the glory of a win that matters.
Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque have been racing partners for four years, and have achieved much during that time. And there’s no denying the winning history of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti in its various guises over the years – …
Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque have been racing partners for four years, and have achieved much during that time. And there’s no denying the winning history of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti in its various guises over the years — championships, Rolex 24 At Daytona victories, Sebring wins … Wayne Taylor is one of the most successful owners in IMSA’s recent history.
There’s also no denying that 2023 was a rough year for the team. Running a single Acura ARX-06 in the first year of the new GTP formula, WTRAndretti suffered a rare winless year, although there was still a chance for a championship heading into Motul Petit Le Mans. Until the team won at Sebring with the second car it added for 2024 with Jordan Taylor, Louis Delétraz and Colton Herta, the most recent victory was at Road America in 2022. That was the last win for Ricky Taylor and Albuquerque.
Until Saturday. And not only did they win, they won it in WTR style, with a ballsy pass for the lead, courtesy of Ricky. Albuquerque had put the No. 10 in position with a fantastic start, and Ricky Taylor sealed the victory despite the apparent overwhelming strength of Porsche Penske Motorsport.
Winning the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic on the streets of downtown Detroit — and, no, the irony of Acura winning in Detroit while Cadillac took the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach this year was not lost on them — ended a 21-month drought for Taylor and Albuquerque. That meant something.
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“Filipe and I have been together for … this our fourth year,” said Ricky following the Detroit victory. “We’ve had a lot of success together and the 10 car was on a roll for our first three years together. We’ve had a really rough last year and a half. Really struggling, haven’t had a win in a long, long time, and it seemed like nothing could go our way. I think first of all everybody at [Honda Racing Corporation], Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti worked really hard to kind of put us back in the game. Street courses were not our thing. This year we haven’t been fighting really for wins outside of Sebring, and they turned it around here.
“We had we had performance in qualifying — it looked like Filipe and Jordan [Taylor] could have been fighting for a top three very easily. And then at the start of the race, starting from fourth on such a tight track, it’s so difficult to pass we thought a podium would be a bit of a win.”
This is a team and driver pairing that has gone into the finale solidly in the championship fight for the last three years, to the point that finishing a single position ahead of its championship rival would have garnered a title. And for three years they’ve missed that target. But race victories were always on the table, and always a check in the achievement column until last year. But not standing on the top step of the podium didn’t break them; it only made them more determined.
“It’s almost like in a family when you are struggling… in a family when something goes wrong, you just get more united,” said Albuquerque. “Head down; be more humble. Look at details and try to motivate each other on the bad days. So many times we would deserve to win, but things were not coming our way. Just comforting each other — never lose that faith, sticking even more together and knowing that the tables will turn and it’s just around the corner. We just never stopped believing it and I think that’s what happened.”
Albuquerque is no stranger to winning races. And while this one wasn’t one of the “big ones,” it definitely meant something, to the point that it nearly brought him to tears.
“I think this moment just made our team, our Konica Minolta 10 car just stronger. I nearly cried. I mean, it’s just a race … but it felt like almost like winning the 24 hours of Le Mans or Daytona, just because it’s so special. We’ve been suffering so much … I’m not saying unfair but it’s sometimes like we would deserve definitely some wins, but things didn’t come our way. But today came to our side and I’m just super happy that it’s out of the way and now I think it’s the relief of going forward.”
Albuquerque (left) and Ricky Taylor had to wait a long time for this one… Brett Farmer/Motorsport Images
The gap between victories shouldn’t have been that big. Long Beach in 2023 should have gone their way, but a slight miscue during the single pit stop and driver change scuttled their chances. The team learned from its mistakes and made some changes. On Saturday, the single pit stop in the 100-minute race went perfectly.
“The guys nailed the pit stop with the driver change … the driver changes aren’t about the drivers – we can only mess it up – they nailed the pitstop and all the little details went well,” explained Taylor. “Filipe had an amazing start. Without any little detail of that happening the way it did, we don’t win the race. All the tiny decisions on the systems — the set up throughout the weekend understanding all of our practice without IndyCar rubber, and how it evolved…. I can name 100 things that led to the way that the car was and what led to us getting the win.”
Those are the details that make the difference between winning or being runner-up or missing the podium entirely. And finally the No. 10 notched a victory in GTP.
“It’s a huge sense of relief. Every weekend we keep saying we just need to put it together and it’s little details at this level where it separates wins from from being off the podium,” Taylor said. “One thing we can say is we’ve always done our best we’ve never sort of given up and motivation kept increasing, like it doesn’t go down when you stop winning — it keeps going up and we wanted to win more than ever coming in here.”
On a tight street course where passing was considered to be at an absolute premium, Ricky Taylor proved it was possible in scooting past Mathieu Jaminet to deliver not only the first victory for the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura …
On a tight street course where passing was considered to be at an absolute premium, Ricky Taylor proved it was possible in scooting past Mathieu Jaminet to deliver not only the first victory for the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 of the season, but the first GTP victory for Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque. For the team that had gone without a win in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship since 2022, claiming the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic in the first IMSA race on the downtown Detroit street circuit was an emotional occasion.
Meanwhile AO Racing’s Sebastian Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich scored their second-consecutive victory thanks in large part to every car that made it to the front of GTD PRO having an issue, starting with alternator trouble for the polesitting No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R, Antonio Garcia pulling the car into the pits for a lengthy stop right after the race start.
No surprise for a tight, 1.654-mile, nine-turn street circuit, the 100-minute race was marked by a surfeit of contact and full-course cautions, five in total, including one with a full track blockage after Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R hit and spun Richard Westbrook in the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 int he tight Turn 1. Many of the incidents affected frontrunners in both GTP and GTD, either as victims or perpetrators.
Starting fourth, Albuquerque made the first move toward the front at the green flag, getting a “buy one, get one free” as he described it by passing both Dane Cameron in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, who was slowed getting passed by Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, and then getting by Bourdais as well. But in the early stages of the race, he had nothing for Nick Tandy in the No. 6 PPM 963.
“We were happy about this weekend,” said Albuquerque. “We had more pace than in the past, in other races, so we knew we could do well. But to be honest, after what’s been happening to us, we need to be humble and we’ve got to start somewhere, so a podium would be good for us. But in the end of the day, we are racers, we go where it takes us and whatever the opportunity takes. The start was a good example of that.”
Albuquerque was gifted the lead a short time later, but Taylor would have to get it back with his pass. Although the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 had started on the pole courtesy of Tandy, the fact that Jaminet had the lead to lose was nothing short of remarkable and the result of a stroke of luck. Tandy had made contact with Daniel Serra in the No. 35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 under braking for Turn 3 and spun the Ferrari. Determined to have responsibility for the incident, the No. 6 received a drive-through penalty, handing the lead to Albuquerque.
Dropped through the field, Tandy stayed out long after most of the GTP field pitted, most of which started as soon as the window to make it to the end of the race on fuel opened. Having cycled to the lead, he put in quick laps at the front. Pitting with just over an hour left, PPM was blessed with a massive gift — a full course caution for the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 stopped on the Jefferson Ave. straight. That allowed Mathieu Jaminet to emerge from the stop in the lead, also helped by the fact that the Porsche needed less fuel to make it to the end.
It looked like Jaminet had what he needed to keep the point, but shortly after the penultimate restart, Taylor clearly had something for him. With Taylor sticking to the back of the Porsche, Jaminet seemed to let his guard down as the pair passed a GT car on the Jefferson Ave. straight. Taylor saw his opportunity and took it, diving to the inside and taking the line away from the Porsche on the entry to Turn 3.
“The Porsche was really strong on short runs on restarts,” explained Taylor. “So the longer it went, we could kind of claw our way back. The Acura guys and the whole team has made a really strong car in the braking and that was really where we’re able to do it. I think had it not been for that one GT car, if we’d had all those restarts after and the way the race went, that was probably my last shot to get him and I’m really relieved that that we took advantage of it because it was still quite a long ways to go. You would have thought there would have been more opportunities, but with how good they were on restarts, I don’t think I would have had another chance.”
Jaminet made no attempt to hide his disappointment with finishing second in a race that he believed the team should have won.
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“I caught traffic at the wrong spot, Turn 1 and Turn 2, that gave him a shot and I underestimated how close he was,” Jaminet said “We were struggling a little bit on the brakes and it seemed to be their strength, so he used the opportunity and [Taylor] did a good move and kind of made it stop. Congrats to them. From my side, yeah, not happy with myself because this is definitely not one of my my best drives today. So something that will work on for the for the future that this doesn’t happen again.”
Bourdais and Renger van der Zande, winners in Long Beach, finished fourth in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R. The No. 7 PPM 963 was fifth with Cameron and Felipe Nasr fifth in the No. 7 PPM 963, making a recovery drive after Nasr suffered a tire puncture and had to make a second call to the pits.
Cameron and Nasr extended their points lead in the GTP standings, holding 1669 points to 1599 for Bourdais and van der Zande, now in second after a tough weekend for the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing squad of Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken, who finished sixth and fell from second to fourth in the points. Jaminet and Tandy sit third with 1586 points.
The AO Racing Porsche came away with the GTD PRO win. Brett Farmer/Lumen
Like the GTP-winning Acura squad, Priaulx and Heinrich started fourth with the No. 777 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, Rexy sporting a new gold tooth after the team’s win at Laguna Seca last month. However, starting with the problem for Garcia, cars in front of them struck trouble.
That include a two-for-one incident that almost cost AO the race and left them to survive to the end with a broken splitter. Heinrich was pursuing the leading pair of Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R and Ben Barnicoat in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 when the two came to blows in Turn 3. Barnicoat dove inside the Corvette while Catsburg tried to close the door and the two cars made contact, the Corvette ending up backwards.
Heinrich had tried to go to the outside as the two combatants had moved toward the inside, but ended nosing into the Corvette.
“The Lexus and the Corvette they were going for it into the hairpin and I saw that, so I wanted to put myself in the best position I could be – A, to stay safe and, B, to capitalize on it,” explained Heinrich of the incident. “They got caught up in an incident and me being on the outside of a really sharp turn. Unfortunately, I hit the spun Corvette. It’s the characteristics of street circuit; there’s not much space to avoid.
“You had a hit, but you don’t know how the car looks from the outside. So immediately went on the radio asking how does it look on the TV images? How did the car look when I passed? At first glance it looked quite OK. But once I came back to the to the backstraight, the splitter was going up and down and touching the floor. It was horrendous inside the car at the end of the race. I couldn’t see any more, it was vibrating that bad. I could adapt quite well – we have some tools in the car with the TC, brake bias, ABS to to help this understeer which which will happen if you have splitter damage. I adapted my driving style quite well, and I think we didn’t have to compromise so much pace,” he continued.
Heinrich got away first to take the lead, pursued by Barnicoat. The Lexus hung with the Porsche for a while, despite missing the majority of the nose of the car and occasionally shedding bits of carbon fiber, but eventually faded from the fight, leaving Heinrich to drive unimpeded to the checker.
“I couldn’t be prouder of everyone on the team and just how they’ve been working this year,” said Priaulx. “It’s just amazing that we’ve had two wins with these pro guys and factory teams. We’re just a single-car team and I’m just sort of gobsmacked that we’re winning these races. And Laurin here … my teammate is actually awesome, did a mega job to get the car home with this damage that we had. He just wanted to get it round to be honest. So super proud of the guys.”
Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth ended up second place at the checker, followed by Alex Riberas in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo he took over from Ross Gunn.
Riberas was involved in an incident of his own that left the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720 S GT3 Evo in the tires in Turn 3 in the closing minutes of the race. Until that point, it looked like Marvin Kirchofer was poised to claim the first GTD PRO podium for McLaren.
Parker Thompson and Frankie Montecalvo, making a guest appearance in GTD PRO for Vasser Sullivan Racing in the absence of GTD, finished fourth in the No. 15 Lexus RC F. Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow were fifth in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3.
With their second victory of the season, Priaulx and Heinrich bolstered their points lead, their 1359 points 84 ahead of Barnicoat and Hawksworth. Gunn, who ran Laguna Seca without regular co-driver Riberas due to a WEC conflict, sits third at 1192. Sellers and Snow are fourth, while Catsburg and Milner are fifth ahead of teammates Garcia and Alexander Sims.
As drivers came to grips with the new surface at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca during Friday’s first practice session for IMSA’s Course de Monterey, many found the limits and took off-course excursions, including one hard crash for Jack Aitken in …
As drivers came to grips with the new surface at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca during Friday’s first practice session for IMSA’s Course de Monterey, many found the limits and took off-course excursions, including one hard crash for Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R. The GT classes weren’t immune to the car-dirtying and trackside-sign-destroying trips through the sand and gravel either.
Filipe Albuquerque put the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 at the top of the time sheet with a 1m14.434s (108.24mph) lap, just a tick quicker than Matt Campbell’s 2023 pole position in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.
“This first session went really well. I felt really connected to the car. The new asphalt has changed the track completely. Very, very positive,” said Albuquerque.
Philip Eng led most of the session in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 and the No. 24 ended the session 0.019s off WTR’s time. Mathieu Jaminet made it three manufacturers in the top three with a 1m14.453s in the No. 6 PPM 963. PPM had a special guest in its timing stand — Tim Cindric, suspended from Penske’s IndyCar Series operation for two races after the push-to-pass scandal.
Louis Deletraz was fourth for WTRAndretti in the No. 40 Acura, and Aitken had the fifth-fastest time despite completing only 14 laps before his crash.
“Practice was running quite well, but unfortunately coming into Turn 4 I had a little bit of a snap on the entry,” Aitken explained. “I let the car recover a little bit, but it was out on the dust and I didn’t anticipate that it would lose grip that quickly and I was heading straight for the wall. I couldn’t do much about it. It doesn’t look like a terrible amount of damage, though it’s going to be a little bit longer day for the guys. I’m sure we’ll be back in action tomorrow. It’s just a shame to cause more work. I’m fine.”
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Aitken was evaluated and released from the medical center. Most of the damage occurred on the left front of the Cadillac, but per IMSA rules, the battery and MGU have to be removed from the car and inspected due to the g-loads that occurred in the crash.
The top-five GTP cars were under Campbell’s existing track record, but not quite matching Ricky Taylor’s 2022 DPi record of 1m13.924s – although it is likely that time will be bested before the weekend is done thanks in large part to the greater traction of the new pavement; all eight factory cars were within a second of the record.
Antonio Garcia held the top spot in GTD PRO for most of the session, but Seb Priaulx jumped to the top in the closing stages, posting a 1m21.182s time (99.24mph) in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. The two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.Rs followed, Garcia in the No. 3 at 1m21.375 leading Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 by 0.029s.
The top three in GTD PRO headed the GT field as a whole, with Philip Ellis turning the fast lap in GTD at 1m21.475s for the fourth-quickest GT time in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Loris Spinelli was 0.099s off Ellis in the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2. Robby Foley was third at 1m21.706s in the Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, carrying the No. 557 this weekend to celebrate what is expected to be the team’s 557th start with BMW on Sunday.
Matt Bell put the No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R in fourth in GTD, followed by Stevan McAleer in the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.
Aside from the Aitken accident, the session was interrupted by only one other red flag for a spin-and-continue by Laurin Heinrich in the AO Porsche.
Practice two begins at 9:15 a.m. local time (12:15 p.m. ET) on Saturday.
United Autosports has firmed up one of its two LMP2 lineups for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Ben Keating, Filipe Albuquerque and Ben Hanley set to share its No. 23 ORECA 07 as a Pro/Am trio. “To bring together the experience, skill and …
United Autosports has firmed up one of its two LMP2 lineups for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Ben Keating, Filipe Albuquerque and Ben Hanley set to share its No. 23 ORECA 07 as a Pro/Am trio.
“To bring together the experience, skill and determination of not one but three proven Le Mans winners is phenomenally exciting as we prepare for our debut in the LMP2 Pro/Am class,” says Richard Dean, United Autosports CEO. “Le Mans is always exciting … never straightforward, but with this driver lineup, we are making our intentions very clear.”
This announcement ensures a return appearance by 2023 FIA World Endurance LMGTE Am champion and Le Mans class winner Keating. It will be the Texan’s 10th Le Mans start and his first with United Autosports.
“The Pro/Am field in LMP2 is looking very strong,” said Keating, “with a lot of winners taking the wheel. This is really fun for me. I can’t wait to tackle this challenge with United Autosports, Filipe and Ben. We all have a lot of experience and that makes a big difference in this race.”
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The sought-after Bronze-graded racer will team up with his 2024 IMSA co-driver Hanley in one of six LMP2 Pro/Am entries at Le Mans. The UK driver celebrated LMP2 Pro/Am class victory at Le Mans in 2021 and is currently racing with United Autosports in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and European Le Mans Series.
Albuquerque has raced at Le Mans every year with United Autosports since the team made its debut in 2017, achieving a class victory and three top-four finishes along the way.
“Another year, another Le Mans with United Autosports! It’s just amazing … I’m super happy to be racing with this great team that I’ve been racing with for the last eight years. Ben Hanley … we raced together when we were in go-karts, and now we meet again.
“And Ben Keating… he is a superstar of LMP2. For sure, he has more miles than me and he knows Le Mans really well. He has one more victory than me! I have immense respect for him and his drive to keep pushing harder and harder.”
The Pro driver lineup for the team’s No. 22 entry will be revealed at a later date. In addition to its pair of LMP2 class ORECAs United Autosports will also field a pair of McLaren GT3 Evos in the LMGT3 class as part of its full-season WEC program.
Daytona seemed a sure indicator that Wayne Taylor Racing was going to have another strong season, just as Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque have taken the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to the wire the last two years, albeit falling short …
Daytona seemed a sure indicator that Wayne Taylor Racing was going to have another strong season, just as Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque have taken the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to the wire the last two years, albeit falling short each time. While they missed standing on the top step of the podium at Daytona with the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 in Victory Lane, they showed pace as the new era of GTP began, and after penalties were applied to Rolex 24 winners Meyer Shank Racing, had the points lead.
Fighting for victory in the latter stages of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Pole and dominance at Long Beach until a pit stop miscue. In both those races, while lunging for the lead, there were disasters and DNFs. Last year WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca produced WTR’s first win of the season. This year they were fourth. Then came a mechanical DNF at the Glen. Finally, Sunday, another second-place finish at Canadian Tire Motorsports park that, had the yellows fallen a bit differently, could very well have been a victory.
Still, Albuquerque and Taylor, in three years together at WTR, haven’t been winless this far into a season. Yet Sunday’s result, with some bad luck by other contenders, have them third in the championship, only 29 points out of first, occupied by Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims. The No. 31 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R fielded by AXR, despite showing good pace, fell afoul of some unfortunate yellows that didn’t jibe with their pit stop strategy, plus Sims had to make an extra trip through the pits when they tried to beat a full-course caution and entered a closed pit lane.
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“We feel so lucky to be still in the fight,” Taylor declared. “The No. 31, they had bad luck today — as much luck as we had to beat that yellow that we weren’t even trying to beat. And for it to be a short yellow on top of that… And for them to enter the closed pit by, like, nothing… That was a lot of luck in our favor, and a lot of bad luck against them. That’s racing, and it comes and goes. Just like the traffic comes and goes, that luck comes and goes and hopefully that’s a sign that our season is headed in the right direction. We don’t expect to get these kinds of days every weekend, so we’re going to need to execute and keep doing these sorts of clean performances the rest of the year and make sure we put in put ourselves in a situation to be lucky more often.”
The fact that WTR has three DNFs, no wins, and is still in the thick of the title fight shows the part that luck plays in motorsports, and perhaps never more than this season in which everyone is dealing with new equipment. Until CTMP, no team has scored a repeat victory, and even then, Meyer Shank Racing doesn’t have the points to reflect two wins.
“We were talking…the other day that we rarely do DNF,” said Albuquerque. “But it happens. And I think this season has been demonstrating exactly that it is ups and downs for everyone. Like Watkins Glen … right after, I think the championship was done for us, because the gap to the Porsche was too much. Then they got penalized and, oh, there’s some hope. And then the No. 31 — they were doing a really good job, but then it just tricked them.
“It’s impressive how it swings back to one side from the other, so I think (it’s) just a good lesson as well — whoever is behind, it’s still possible to go for the front. So we just need to be staying away from problems. I think the team did an amazing job. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to jinx this this thing. But I think we covered our strategy in a way that we pitted the first moment that it was possible to (go to) the end. And then, yes, we were lucky that the yellow came on. But we were already there.”
There are three races left for the GTP competitors – Road America, Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans – and it’s still anyone’s fight. The spread between first and fourth in the championship is only 63 points, less than the difference between first and fourth in a single race. And that top four encompasses four different teams and four different manufacturers — a scenario that seemed most unlikely as the season began; almost as unlikely as Albuquerque and Taylor being in the battle with the season they’ve had so far.
As was to be expected based on the two practice sessions today, the battle for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach pole in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship came down to Acura vs. Acura. This time it fell to Filipe Albuquerque and the Wayne …
As was to be expected based on the two practice sessions today, the battle for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach pole in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship came down to Acura vs. Acura. This time it fell to Filipe Albuquerque and the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport team, Albuquerque getting the No. 10 ARX-06 into the 69s range with a 1m9.909s lap, an average of 101.34mph around the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary circuit. Albuquerque’s time was half a second off the DPi record set by Sebastien Bourdais last year.
“We knew we had a good car, and we had a little bit of an edge on on the competitors, other manufacturers,” stated Albuquerque. “But we’ve seen as well, the No. 60 was very competitive, so this pole position would not come for free and easily. So obviously the tension was there between us. But yeah, I really wanted this pole position and, for sure, the No. 60 wanted it as well. But at the end of the day, I was super pleased with pole position by half a second. It’s pretty good.”
For several teams, the first half of the 20-minute GTP-only qualifying session was dedicated to scrubbing the second set of tires for tomorrow’s race, and then getting the qualifying set up to temperature. Representative times didn’t begin to appear until about five minutes left, and Albuquerque set the pole time on his 11th of 13 laps.
“The boys were a bit nervous in the garage about that as well. But I knew what I was doing. I must say that here specifically in Long Beach, cold tires, it’s just a nightmare. So hard to bring up the temperature. So I’m glad that tomorrow, I’m not going to get in second and go with cold tires into the to the race because it’s hard; it’s very hard. It’s way harder than Daytona and Sebring. and here you do a mistake, you go sideways and you hit the wall, you’re done. So I took my time there to get the tires up to temperature. It’s about being patient and knowing what what you’re doing. So I was pretty sure about what I was doing, but as well a bit concerned because if there is a yellow, I could not post a lap and then that was it. But the car was good later on,” he explained.
Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian ARX-06 could only manage to get within 0.674s of Albuquerque’s time to sweep the front row for Acura. Sebastien Bourdais and the Chip Ganassi Racing team found some pace in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R to claim the inside of the second row with a 1m10.981s lap. The next two cars were the two M Hybrid V8s from BMW M Team RLL, Nick Yelloly claiming the outside of the second row for the No. 25 and claiming intra-team honors over Augusto Farfus.
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Records fell in the GTD classes, Marco Sorensen claiming the GTD and outright pole with the best lap for a GTD car in Long Beach history. In his first visit to Long Beach, his 1m17.811s (91.05mph) in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 set the new mark for the class around the street circuit as he edged GTD PRO polesitter Jack Hawksworth by 0.06s.
“I think always when you’re coming to a new-to-you track, basically for me it was just learning the whole day,” Sorensen explained. “For sure they have all the setups and all this from last year. But we all know that everything always changes during the seasons and during the years. For sure the car was in the right window for today.”
Not only is this Sorensen’s first time at Long Beach, but his first time driving a GT car on a street circuit.
“It’s the first proper street circuit in a GT. I’ve done a lot in formula cars back in the day…I feel old when I say that, but it’s the first time in a GT and I freaking love it,” he declared.
Two teams have a lot of work ahead of them to get their cars ready for tomorrow’s race after contact with the wall that brought out a red flag. First Ashton Harrison pancaked the No. 93 Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 against the wall at the exit of Turn 8. As the red flag came out to end the session with less than four minutes to go, PJ Hyett nosed into the wall at almost the same spot.
Hawksworth set the new GTD PRO mark with a 1m17.817s in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 to start alongside Sorensen, leading three other GTD PRO cars, starting with Sorensen’s teammate Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Patrick Pilet was third in GTD PRO in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche, followed by Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette.
“We kind of gambled a little bit on going out a bit later in the session then, knowing the track evolution was going to be important in terms of the track was getting faster the whole time. Maybe that hurt us a little bit because obviously it just got cut short at the end,” Hawksworth said.
Hawksworth admitted consternation about not getting the overall pole, but was buoyed by the progression the team made at this track compared to last year.
“It’s obviously a little bit frustrating to be on the outside and not on the inside going down to Turn 1, but if we look at the day last year, it was kind of a bit of a struggle for us at this track. We raced forward, but it was more through good fortune rather than speed, so it was really good to come back here and see the work the guys have done. We really kind of concentrated on trying to find a way to extract the most from the car and the minute we rolled off the truck, the car has been in a window,” he said.
Frankie Montecalvo will start sixth overall in the GT field, second in GTD, having turned a 1m18.376s lap in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus. Madison Snow, who had a pole streak going at Long Beach, will instead start the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 on the inside of the fourth row, with the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Mike Skeen alongside.
UP NEXT: The 100-minute Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with green flag scheduled for Saturday at 5:05 p.m. Eastern.
The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 spent most of the first hour of the first practice session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring sitting in the pits with an electric issue. But when the car finally turned some …
The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 spent most of the first hour of the first practice session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring sitting in the pits with an electric issue. But when the car finally turned some real laps, Filipe Albuquerque immediately put it on the top of the time sheet, posting a 1m48.303s, good for a 124.32mph average around the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway.
Cadillac spent most of the time at the top as teams prepared for the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Renger van der Zande the best of the two in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R at 1m48.436s, only 0.098s ahed of Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac.
BMW looked much stronger than it did at Daytona, the two BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8s finishing the session fourth and fifth, Connor De Phillippi leading the squad in the No. 25, 0.432s off Albuquerque’s best. Mathieu Jaminet was the quickest of the Porsche Penske Motorsports team in the No. 6 963, while the No. 7 963 emerged only briefly before Matt Campbell spun in Turn 3 and hit the tire barrier, damaging the rear wing. The back end of the car was quickly changed, but Campbell never really set a representative time.
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Like the No. 10, the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura spent most of the time sitting in the pits, due to a problem with the steering wheel electronics. Tom Blomqvist did a few off-pace laps before coasting to a stop in Turn 16, bringing out the second red flag of the session with about 15 minutes left.
The adjusted Balance of Performance equation for the Porsche 911 GT3 R seems to have leveled things out, as Trent Hindman set the quick time for all the GT cars, a 2m1.092s lap (111.19mph) in the GTD-class No. 77 Volt Racing 911. Five different makes made up the top five in GTD, Kyle Marcelli second in the No. 93 Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, 0.102s off Hindman. Aaron Telitz was third in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 at 2m1.350s. Mikael Grenier (No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG) and Andy Lally (No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage) completed the top five.
Telitz’s teammate Kyle Kirkwood led GTD PRO in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F with a 2m1.156s time, second overall in the GT field. The Risi Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 had good pace, Daniel Serra turning a top time of 2m1.394s for second in GTD PRO, sixth within the GTD field overall, followed by Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage at 2m1.450s. Rounding out the top five in GTD PRO were Maro Engel in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG and Jordan Pepper in the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2.
Christian Rasmussen topped LMP2 for Era Motorsport in the No. 18 ORECA with a 1m50.926s lap, followed by Giedo van der Garde in the No. 35 TDS Racing car (1m51.140) and George Kurtz in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing ORECA another 0.026s back.
Dakota Dickerson led the LMP3 field in the No. 30 JR III Racing Ligier with a 1m56.349 on his last lap. Gar Robinson was second, 0.068s off Dickerson’s best, in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, with Gabby Chaves third for Andretti Autosport in the No. 36 Ligier at 1m56.349s.
The session was interrupted by two red flags in addition to the one to retrieve the No. 60. One was for the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports LMP3 off course at Turn 17, and the sesssion was ended under red after Sheldon van der Linde stuffed the No. 25 BMW Team RLL M Hybrid V8 into the tires, also in 17.
UP NEXT: The second practice session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring starts at 3:50pm ET. It will be a 90-minute split session with the Pro-Am classes having their own 15 minutes at the front and the GTP and GTD PRO classes having the track to themselves for the final 15 minutes.
