Rolex 24: Albuquerque in WTR Acura leads disrupted FP3

Albuquerque lapped the 12-turn 3.56-mile course in 1min34.947sec to pull a 0.4sec margin over the fastest of the opposition. That accolade went to Michelin Endurance Cup driver Mike Conway, whose Action Express Racing entry became the first Cadillac DPi-V.R to break the Acura domination at the top of the times this weekend.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura, in the hands of Helio Castroneves who won this race with WTR last year, was third fastest ahead of Sebastien Bourdais in the quicker of the two Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillacs and Mike Rockenfeller in the second AXR Caddy.

IndyCar race winner Marcus Ericsson in the new #02 Ganassi entry was sixth ahead of Richard Westbrook, JDC-Miller MotorSports' newest recruit.

But Westbrook’s best effort was marginally slower than the fastest LMP2 car, the Tower Motorsport Oreca pedaled by Ferdinand Habsburg, who lapped in 1min36.710.

Fabio Scherer was second in High Class Racing’s entry, while Nicolas Lapierre and Jonathan Bomarito were half a tenth apart in the two PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entries, followed by IndyCar ace Pato O’Ward in the DragonSpeed entry.

Seb Priaulx, an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debutant, was top of the LMP3 entries in the Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier, while Ugo de Wilde was second in the Duqueine of Muehlner Motorsports, and former Indy Lights champion Gabby Chaves put Andretti Autosport into third place.

Dirk Muller led GTD Pro in the Proton Mercedes-AMG GT3, although he was two-tenths off the best GTD time, set by David Pittard in the Northwest AMR Aston Martin Vantage.

Next up in Pro was Alessio Picariello in the Proton-operated WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, followed by Denis Olsen in the similar car of KCMG, Ben Barnicoat in the Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F and Rolf Ineichen’s TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan.

In GTD, Pittard was a quarter second clear of Giacomo Altoe’s TR3 Lamborghini, Klaus Bachler’s GMG Racing Porsche, Andy Lally’s Magnus Racing Aston Martin and Paul Holton in Crucial Motorsports’ McLaren 720S.

Two of the red flags were caused by Gradient Racing’s Acura NSX, the first time when it came to a halt at pit exit, and the second around 20mins later when it came to a more abrupt halt in an accident. The driver was unhurt but the damage was severe enough that the car never re-emerged from the paddock.

The other two reds were halts for the LMP3 cars of Forty7 Motorsports and Performance Tech Motorsports.

Qualifying for Sunday’s qualifying race for next week’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona will begin at 3.25pm ET, while evening practice commences at 7.00pm ET.

Cla	Driver	Class	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque Alexander Rossi Will Stevens	DPi	Acura DPi	17	1'34.947
2	Pipo Derani Tristan Nunez Mike Conway	DPi	Cadillac DPi	10	1'35.351	0.404
3	Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist Helio Castroneves Simon Pagenaud	DPi	Acura DPi	15	1'36.047	1.100
4	Renger van der Zande Sébastien Bourdais Scott Dixon Alex Palou	DPi	Cadillac DPi	17	1'36.090	1.143
5	Jimmie Johnson Kamui Kobayashi Mike Rockenfeller Jose Maria Lopez	DPi	Cadillac DPi	9	1'36.292	1.345
6	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Marcus Ericsson Kevin Magnussen	DPi	Cadillac DPi	16	1'36.542	1.595
7	John Farano Louis Deletraz Rui Pinto Ferdinand Habsburg	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	14	1'36.710	1.763
8	Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook Loic Duval Ben Keating	DPi	Cadillac DPi	16	1'36.830	1.883
9	Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach Fabio Scherer Nico Mueller	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	17	1'36.950	2.003
10	Ben Keating Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker Nicolas Lapierre	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	16	1'38.152	3.205
11	Thomas Steven Josh Pierson Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	16	1'38.206	3.259
12	Eric Lux Devlin DeFrancesco Patricio O'Ward Colton Herta	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	17	1'38.598	3.651
13	Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel Paul-Loup Chatin	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	13	1'39.297	4.350
14	François Heriau Oliver Rasmussen Ed Jones René Rast	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	14	1'40.595	5.648
15	Joao Barbosa Malthe Jakobsen Seb Priaulx Lance Willsey	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	9	1'43.395	8.448
16	Nolan Siegel Cameron Shields Charles Crews Ugo De	LMP3	Duqueine D08	19	1'43.983	9.036
17	Jarett Andretti Josh Burdon Rasmus Lindh Gabby Chaves	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	8	1'44.518	9.571
18	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Kay van Berlo Michael Cooper	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	9	1'44.680	9.733
19	Orey Fidani Kuno Wittmer Lars Kern Matthew Bell	LMP3	Duqueine D08	9	1'44.820	9.873
20	Efrin Castro Moritz Kranz Ori Ayrton Joel Miller	LMP3	Duqueine D08	18	1'45.239	10.292
21	Jon Bennett Colin Braun George Kurtz Nic Jönsson	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	11	1'45.325	10.378
22	Dan Goldburg Hikaru Abe Garett Grist Nicolas Pino	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	15	1'45.414	10.467
23	Jim McGuire Guy Smith Philip Hanson Will Owen	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	8	1'45.593	10.646
24	Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Charlie Eastwood Nicki Thiim	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	9	1'46.345	11.398
25	Dirk Muller Patrick Assenheimer Austin Cindric	GTD PRO	Mercedes-AMG GT3	16	1'46.543	11.596
26	Bill Sweedler John Megrue Giacomo Altoè Jeff Segal	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	9	1'46.589	11.642
27	Cooper MacNeil Julien Andlauer Matteo Cairoli Alessio Picariello	GTD PRO	Porsche 911 GT3 R	13	1'46.652	11.705
28	Kyle Washington James Sofronas Jeroen Bleekemolen Klaus Bachler	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	5	1'46.709	11.762
29	Laurens Vanthoor Patrick Pilet Dennis Olsen Alexandre Imperatori	GTD PRO	Porsche 911 GT3 R	15	1'46.731	11.784
30	John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly Jonathan Adam	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	14	1'46.777	11.830
31	Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat Kyle Kirkwood	GTD PRO	Lexus RC F GT3	11	1'46.837	11.890
32	Marco Mapelli Andrea Caldarelli Mirko Bortolotti Rolf Ineichen	GTD PRO	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	13	1'46.930	11.983
33	Lance Bergstein Jon Miller Patrick Gallagher Paul Holton	GTD	McLaren 720S GT3	8	1'46.993	12.046
34	Franck Perera LLarena Mateo Paul Maximilian Mikhail Goikhberg	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	16	1'47.010	12.063
35	Cooper MacNeil Daniel Juncadella Maro Engel Jules Gounon	GTD PRO	Mercedes-AMG GT3	8	1'47.205	12.258
36	Ted Giovanis Hugh Plumb Matt Plumb Owen Trinkler	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	9	1'47.423	12.476
37	Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Jan Heylen Richard Lietz	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	14	1'47.533	12.586
38	Don Yount Benja Hites Jaden Conwright Markus Palttala	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	12	1'47.621	12.674
39	Michael de Quesada Daniel Morad Linus Lundqvist Maximillian Goetz	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	15	1'47.635	12.688
40	Robert Megennis Corey Lewis Sandy Mitchell Jeff Westphal	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	15	1'47.668	12.721
41	Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet Felipe Nasr	GTD PRO	Porsche 911 GT3 R	14	1'47.709	12.762
42	Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz Richard Heistand Townsend Bell	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	9	1'47.791	12.844
43	Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff Ollie Millroy Jordan Lee Pepper	GTD	McLaren 720S GT3	14	1'47.877	12.930
44	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Daniel Serra Davide Rigon	GTD PRO	Ferrari 488 GT3	7	1'47.954	13.007
45	Russell Ward Philip Ellis Mikael Grenier Lucas Auer	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	13	1'48.196	13.249
46	Ross Gunn Alex Riberas Maxime Martin	GTD PRO	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	7	1'48.294	13.347
47	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge Stefan Wilson Nicholas Boulle	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	17	1'48.306	13.359
48	Mike Skeen Guy Cosmo Stevan McAleer Scott Andrews	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	16	1'48.324	13.377
49	Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco Alessio Rovera	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	15	1'48.346	13.399
50	Kyffin Simpson Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller Mario Farnbacher	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	7	1'48.603	13.656
51	Mark Kvamme Austin McCusker Trenton Estep Antoine Doquin	LMP3	Duqueine D08	15	1'49.044	14.097
52	Connor de Phillippi John Edwards Augusto Farfus Jesse Krohn	GTD PRO	BMW M4 GT3	11	1'49.440	14.493
53	Roman De Angelis Ian James Darren Turner Tom Gamble	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	8	1'50.286	15.339
54	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy Marco Sorensen	GTD PRO	Corvette C8.R GTD	15	1'50.327	15.380
55	Philipp Eng Marco Wittmann Nick Yelloly Sheldon Van Der Linde	GTD PRO	BMW M4 GT3	10	1'50.502	15.555
56	Mann Simon Luis Perez Companc Nicklas Nielsen Toni Vilander	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	12	1'50.633	15.686
57	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Nick Catsburg	GTD PRO	Corvette C8.R GTD	15	1'50.738	15.791
58	Robby Foley Bill Auberlen Michael Dinan Jens Klingmann	GTD	BMW M4 GT3	11	1'51.163	16.216
59	John Falb James Allen Luca Ghiotto Tijmen van	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	9	1'52.850	17.903
60	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Murry Dylan Rinus van Kalmthout	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	5	1'53.699	18.752
61	Kenny Habul Luca Stolz Raffaele Marciello Fabian Schiller	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	8	1'57.822	22.875
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