Laguna Seca IMSA: Taylor heads Acura 1-2 in FP3

Taylor laid down a benchmark of 1m15.497s early on in the one-hour Saturday morning session, but the #7 Acura caused a red flag when Helio Castroneves beached the pace-setting ARX-05 in the gravel at the top of the Corkscrew.

Castroneves avoided picking up any significant damage, though, and the car was back out for the final part of the session, as championship leader Juan Pablo Montoya made a late jump up to second in the sister #6 machine with a 1m15.857s effort.

Best of the rest was the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, which has been boosted by Balance of Performance adjustments for this round, with Renger van der Zande ending up 0.538s off the pace in third.

Oliver Jarvis's early benchmark behind the wheel of the #77 Mazda RT24-P was enough for fourth in the end, ahead of the #5 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque and the second of the Joest-run Mazdas, the #55 car of Harry Tincknell.

The title-contending #31 AXR Cadillac ended up down in ninth, with ex-Formula 1 racer Felipe Nasr's best effort putting that car 1.104s off the pace.

Kyle Masson's time of 1m18.251s was enough to put Performance Tech ahead of sole LMP2 rival PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.

Ford set the pace in GT Le Mans with Richard Westbrook setting a 1m22.034s in the #67 car, 0.230s ahead of Tom Blomqvist's best effort in the #24 BMW M8 GTE.

Dirk Muller made it two Fords inside the top three in the #66 GT, ahead of Oliver Gavin in the quicker of the Corvette C7.Rs, while both Porsche 911 RSRs ended up propping up the class order in seventh and eighth places.

Turner Motorsports set the pace in GT Daytona courtesy of Robby Foley's 1m24.523s effort in the #96 BMW M6 GT3, a little under two tenths clear of Corey Lewis in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

Andy Lally was third-fastest in Magnus Racing's Lambo ahead of the points-leading Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 of Trent Hindman.

Session results:

Cla	Num	Driver	Class	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	7	Ricky Taylor Helio Castroneves	DPi	Acura DPi	1'15.497
2	6	Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya	DPi	Acura DPi	1'15.857	0.360
3	10	Renger van der Zande Jordan Taylor	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'16.035	0.538
4	77	Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez	DPi	Mazda DPi	1'16.088	0.591
5	5	Joao Barbosa Filipe Albuquerque	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'16.194	0.697
6	55	Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell	DPi	Mazda DPi	1'16.296	0.799
7	85	Mikhail Goikhberg Tristan Vautier	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'16.311	0.814
8	54	Jon Bennett Colin Braun	DPi	Nissan DPi	1'16.460	0.963
9	31	Felipe Nasr Pipo Derani	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'16.601	1.104
10	84	Simon Trummer Stephen Simpson	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'16.978	1.481
11	38	Cameron Cassels Kyle Masson	LMP2	ORECA LMP2	1'18.251	2.754
12	52	Matt McMurry Dalton Kellett	LMP2	ORECA LMP2	1'19.085	3.588
13	67	Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook	GTLM	Ford GT	1'22.034	6.537
14	25	Connor de Phillippi Tom Blomqvist	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	1'22.264	6.767
15	66	Joey Hand Dirk Muller	GTLM	Ford GT	1'22.518	7.021
16	4	Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner	GTLM	Corvette C7.R	1'22.567	7.070
17	3	Jan Magnussen Antonio Garcia	GTLM	Corvette C7.R	1'22.635	7.138
18	24	Jesse Krohn John Edwards	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	1'22.729	7.232
19	911	Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	1'22.839	7.342
20	912	Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	1'23.058	7.561
21	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley	GTD	BMW M6 GT3	1'24.523	9.026
22	48	Bryan Sellers Corey Lewis	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	1'24.720	9.223
23	44	John Potter Andy Lally	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	1'24.960	9.463
24	86	Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'25.061	9.564
25	33	Ben Keating Jeroen Bleekemolen	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	1'25.070	9.573
26	12	Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'25.127	9.630
27	9	Scott Hargrove Zacharie Robichon	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'25.159	9.662
28	63	Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	1'25.210	9.713
29	14	Richard Heistand Jack Hawksworth	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'25.285	9.788
30	76	Paul Holton Matt Plumb	GTD	McLaren 720S GT3	1'25.344	9.847
31	57	Katherine Legge Christina Nielsen	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'25.434	9.937
32	73	Patrick Lindsey Patrick Long	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	0.000
View full results