Detroit IMSA: Taylor puts Acura Team Penske on top in FP1
A sensational late lap from Ricky Taylor clinched top spot in the 90-minute opening IMSA practice session in Detroit, but the Action Express Cadillacs prevented an Acura 1-2.
#7 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi, P: Ricky Taylor
Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Taylor’s 1min21.909 in the ARX-05, on the car’s 45th of 47 laps, meant he finished the session 0.206sec faster than Felipe Nasr in the #31 AXR Cadillac DPi-V.R.
Joao Barbosa took over from Filipe Albuquerque in the #5 AXR machine and set its fastest time as the track got quicker, but he was 0.6sec off top spot – yet still fast enough to beat the Dane Cameron/Juan Pablo Montoya-driven Acura.
Colin Braun did a fine job to take fifth in the CORE autosport Oreca-Gibson ahead of the best of the Mazdas, Jonathan Bomarito in the #55 car.
Its sister RT24-P, driven by Oliver Jarvis, quit running after just one lap, bringing out the red flag, but was later able complete 37 laps and he was able to wind the car up to 10th, albeit half a second off Bomarito’s best.
In between the Soul Red machines were Tristan Vautier in the Spirit of Daytona Racing Cadillac – its first official session since the shunt at Sebring in March – followed by Stephen Simpson’s JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca and Renger van der Zande in Wayne Taylor Racing’s Cadillac.
With GT Le Mans teams preparing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, GT Daytona gets a moment in the GT spotlight this weekend, and last year’s Detroit-winning combination of Katherine Legge and an Acura NSX ensured Meyer Shank Racing was back on top, half a second faster than teammate Lawson Aschenbach, and separated from him by the Lexus RC F of Jack Hawksworth.
Jeroen Bleekemolen’s Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 was fourth quick, edging Bryan Sellers’ best in the Lamborghini Huracan of Paul Miller Racing. Sixth quick was Kenny Habul’s SunEnergy1 Mercedes, which this weekend he will share with sportscar veteran and four-time DTM champion Bernd Schneider.
Practice results:
Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7 | Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor |
P | Acura DPi | 1'21.909 | |
2 | 31 | Eric Curran Felipe Nasr |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'22.115 | 0.206 |
3 | 5 | Filipe Albuquerque Joao Barbosa |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'22.513 | 0.604 |
4 | 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya Dane Cameron |
P | Acura DPi | 1'22.789 | 0.880 |
5 | 54 | Jon Bennett Colin Braun |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'23.160 | 1.251 |
6 | 55 | Harry Tincknell Jonathan Bomarito |
P | Mazda DPi | 1'23.295 | 1.386 |
7 | 90 | Matt McMurry Tristan Vautier |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'23.371 | 1.462 |
8 | 99 | Mikhail Goikhberg Stephen Simpson |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'23.520 | 1.611 |
9 | 10 | Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'23.589 | 1.680 |
10 | 77 | Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez |
P | Mazda DPi | 1'23.775 | 1.866 |
11 | 22 | Pipo Derani Johannes van Overbeek |
P | Nissan DPi | 1'23.965 | 2.056 |
12 | 2 | Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel |
P | Nissan DPi | 1'24.475 | 2.566 |
13 | 85 | Simon Trummer Robert Alon |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'24.621 | 2.712 |
14 | 52 | Gustavo Yacaman Sebastian Saavedra |
P | Ligier LMP2 | 1'25.704 | 3.795 |
15 | 86 | Katherine Legge Mario Farnbacher |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'29.905 | 7.996 |
16 | 15 | David Heinemeier Hansson Jack Hawksworth |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'30.360 | 8.451 |
17 | 93 | Justin Marks Lawson Aschenbach |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'30.392 | 8.483 |
18 | 33 | Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'30.532 | 8.623 |
19 | 48 | Bryan Sellers Madison Snow |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'30.538 | 8.629 |
20 | 75 | Bernd Schneider Kenny Habul |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'30.821 | 8.912 |
21 | 16 | Wolf Henzler Michael Schein |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'30.911 | 9.002 |
22 | 63 | Jeff Segal Cooper MacNeil |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'31.025 | 9.116 |
23 | 96 | Bill Auberlen Robby Foley |
GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'31.063 | 9.154 |
24 | 14 | Kyle Marcelli Dominik Baumann |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'31.113 | 9.204 |
25 | 44 | Andy Lally John Potter |
GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 1'31.406 | 9.497 |
26 | 58 | Patrick Long Christina Nielsen |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'32.098 | 10.189 |
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