Petit Le Mans IMSA: Vautier leads FP3 but rain halts action

Vautier, who with co-drivers Loic Duval and Sebastien Bourdais won this year’s 12 Hours of Sebring, clocked a 70.796sec lap around Road Atlanta, 0.026sec faster than fellow Cadillac DPi-V.R runners Chip Ganassi Racing, whose best time came courtesy of Kevin Magnussen.

Six tenths behind was this afternoon’s pacesetter Harry Tincknell of Mazda, the RT24-P turning more laps than any other Prototype, and winding up just ahead of the two title contenders, Filipe Albuquerque of Wayne Taylor Racing Acura and Pipo Derani in the Action Express Racing Cadillac.

Mikkel Jensen led LMP2 for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, seven tenths faster than Ryan Dalziel in the Era Motorsports entry, while LMP3 was topped by Rasmus Lindh of Performance Tech Motorsports and Colin Braun of CORE autosport.

The two WeatherTech Racing Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSRs of Frederic Makowiecki and Mathieu Jaminet were a quarter second apart but topped the GT Le Mans category, with Jesse Krohn and Philipp Eng third and fourth in the BMW M8s.

Jack Hawksworth topped GT Daytona for Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus, with Benja Hites second in the NTE Sport Audi R8 ahead of Andy Lally piloting the Acura NSX of Magnus with Archangel.

The Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R did not appear on track, following the damage it received after being squeezed off course by an LMP2 car in FP2.

Tomorrow’s qualifying session will begin at 3.45pm local (Eastern) time.

Cla	Num	Driver	Class	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	5	Tristan Vautier Loic Duval Sébastien Bourdais	DPi	Cadillac DPi	26	1'10.796
2	01	Renger van der Zande Kevin Magnussen Scott Dixon	DPi	Cadillac DPi	26	1'10.822	0.026
3	55	Oliver Jarvis Harry Tincknell Jonathan Bomarito	DPi	Mazda DPi	32	1'11.427	0.631
4	10	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque Alexander Rossi	DPi	Acura DPi	28	1'11.472	0.676
5	31	Felipe Nasr Mike Conway Pipo Derani	DPi	Cadillac DPi	26	1'11.526	0.730
6	52	Ben Keating Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	30	1'11.589	0.793
7	60	Dane Cameron Helio Castroneves Juan Pablo Montoya	DPi	Acura DPi	25	1'11.647	0.851
8	48	Jimmie Johnson Kamui Kobayashi Simon Pagenaud	DPi	Cadillac DPi	29	1'11.671	0.875
9	18	Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	24	1'12.323	1.527
10	8	John Farano Gabriel Aubry James French	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	23	1'13.486	2.690
11	22	Jim McGuire Wayne Boyd Guy Smith	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	29	1'13.514	2.718
12	11	Thomas Steven Tristan Nunez Thomas Merrill	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	22	1'14.791	3.995
13	38	Dan Goldburg Rasmus Lindh Malthe Jakobsen	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	20	1'16.605	5.809
14	54	Jon Bennett George Kurtz Colin Braun	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	23	1'16.781	5.985
15	91	Jim Cox Dylan Murry Jeroen Bleekemolen	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	28	1'16.969	6.173
16	97	Kevin Estre Michael Christensen Frédéric Makowiecki	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	20	1'17.253	6.457
17	30	Ari Balogh Garett Grist Spencer Pigot	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	23	1'17.420	6.624
18	79	Cooper MacNeil Mathieu Jaminet Matt Campbell	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	25	1'17.508	6.712
19	24	John Edwards Jesse Krohn Augusto Farfus	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	21	1'17.554	6.758
20	74	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Scott Andrews	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	17	1'17.656	6.860
21	25	Connor de Phillippi Philipp Eng Bruno Spengler	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	31	1'17.767	6.971
22	2	Niklas Krütten Tom Gamble Andrew Meyrick	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	28	1'18.161	7.365
23	3	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Nick Catsburg	GTLM	Corvette C8.R	31	1'18.170	7.374
24	4	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy Alexander Sims	GTLM	Corvette C8.R	25	1'18.216	7.420
25	83	Matthew Bell Naveen Rao Josh Skelton	LMP3	Duqueine D08	26	1'18.337	7.541
26	7	Rodrigo Pflucker Mark Kvamme Stefan Rzadzinski	LMP3	Duqueine D08	29	1'19.569	8.773
27	14	Aaron Telitz Jack Hawksworth Kyle Kirkwood	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	26	1'20.342	9.546
28	42	Don Yount Jaden Conwright Benja Hites	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3	24	1'20.362	9.566
29	44	John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	23	1'20.401	9.605
30	36	Jarett Andretti Josh Burdon Oliver Askew	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	21	1'20.596	9.800
31	9	Zacharie Robichon Laurens Vanthoor Lars Kern	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	21	1'20.599	9.803
32	19	Mikhail Goikhberg Franck Perera Michele Beretta	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	26	1'20.608	9.812
33	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley Aidan Read	GTD	BMW M6 GT3	18	1'20.826	10.030
34	12	Frankie Montecalvo Zach Veach Robert Megennis	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	31	1'20.844	10.048
35	1	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Corey Lewis	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	25	1'20.884	10.088
36	70	Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff Ben Barnicoat	GTD	McLaren 720S GT3	27	1'21.266	10.470
37	23	Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn Ian James	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	22	1'21.315	10.519
38	57	Russell Ward Philip Ellis Maro Engel	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	27	1'21.437	10.641
39	32	Mike Skeen Guy Cosmo Stevan McAleer	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	23	1'21.617	10.821
40	88	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge Andrew Davis	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	25	1'22.366	11.570
41	40	Todd Archer James Vance Max Hanratty	LMP3	Duqueine D08	12	1'24.655	13.859
42	28	Daniel Morad Michael de Quesada Daniel Juncadella	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	8	1'43.053	32.257
43	16	Trent Hindman Patrick Long Jan Heylen	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	0	0.000
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