Sebring 12 Hours: Castroneves tops first practice for Penske
Three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves topped the times in first practice for this weekend's Sebring 12 Hours for the Penske Acura team.
#7 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi
Greg Aleck - Fastlines
Castroneves posted a 1m48.237s in his Acura ARX-05 DPi early in the one-hour session.
He knocked Spirit of Daytona driver Tristan Vautier off the top spot by a tenth and a half in the first track acton head of Saturday's second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The Frenchman retained second position with his 1m48.387s aboard his Cadillac DPi-V.R to the end of the session, ending up just 0.28s ahead of Renger van der Zande in the Wayne Taylor Racing Caddy.
Olivier Pla took fourth in the fastest of the Extreme Speed Motorsports Onroak-Nissan DPis with a 1m48.461s, which put him less than a tenth up on Jonathan Bomarito in the best of the Joest-run Mazda RT24-Ps. Pipo Derani took sixth in the second of the ESM Nissans.
The first nine cars, all DPis, were within a second of Castroneves in the Acura.
Fastest of the LMP2 cars in 11th was the Performance Tech Oreca 07 in which Patricio O'Ward posted a 1m49.457s right at the end of the session.
The United Autosports Ligier was 14th-quickest, 2.5s off the pace, with Paul di Resta at the wheel.
Ford fastest in GTLM
Dirk Muller ended up fastest in the GTE Le Mans class aboard his Chip Ganassi Ford GT. His 1m57.567s put him two and a half tenths up on Toni Vilander in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.
Richard Westbrook was just two thousandths behind in the second of the Ganassi Fords.
The GT Daytona category was led by Lawson Aschenbach in the fastest of the Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3s.
A 2m00.337s put him eight hundredths up on Daniel Serra's AF Corse-run Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3.
First practice results:
Pos. | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7 | Helio Castroneves Graham Rahal Ricky Taylor |
P | Acura DPi | 1'48.237 | |
2 | 90 | Matt McMurry Tristan Vautier Eddie Cheever III |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'48.387 | 0.150 |
3 | 10 | Jordan Taylor Ryan Hunter-Reay Renger van der Zande |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'48.415 | 0.178 |
4 | 2 | Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel Olivier Pla |
P | Nissan DPi | 1'48.461 | 0.224 |
5 | 55 | Harry Tincknell Spencer Pigot Jonathan Bomarito |
P | Mazda DPi | 1'48.544 | 0.307 |
6 | 22 | Pipo Derani Johannes van Overbeek Nicolas Lapierre |
P | Nissan DPi | 1'48.675 | 0.438 |
7 | 31 | Mike Conway Eric Curran Felipe Nasr |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'48.753 | 0.516 |
8 | 77 | Oliver Jarvis René Rast Tristan Nunez |
P | Mazda DPi | 1'48.764 | 0.527 |
9 | 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya Simon Pagenaud Dane Cameron |
P | Acura DPi | 1'48.950 | 0.713 |
10 | 5 | Christian Fittipaldi Filipe Albuquerque Joao Barbosa |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'49.386 | 1.149 |
11 | 38 | James French Kyle Masson Patricio O'Ward |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'49.457 | 1.220 |
12 | 85 | Simon Trummer Nelson Panciatici Robert Alon |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'50.378 | 2.141 |
13 | 99 | Mikhail Goikhberg Chris Miller Stephen Simpson |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'50.651 | 2.414 |
14 | 32 | Paul di Resta Alex Brundle Phil Hanson |
P | Ligier LMP2 | 1'50.759 | 2.522 |
15 | 52 | Gustavo Yacaman Roberto Gonzalez Sebastian Saavedra |
P | Ligier LMP2 | 1'50.907 | 2.670 |
16 | 66 | Sébastien Bourdais Joey Hand Dirk Müller |
GTLM | Ford GT | 1'57.567 | 9.330 |
17 | 62 | James Calado Toni Vilander Alessandro Pier Guidi |
GTLM | Ferrari 488 GTE | 1'57.819 | 9.582 |
18 | 67 | Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon Richard Westbrook |
GTLM | Ford GT | 1'57.821 | 9.584 |
19 | 911 | Nick Tandy Patrick Pilet Frédéric Makowiecki |
GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'57.958 | 9.721 |
20 | 912 | Gianmaria Bruni Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor |
GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'58.116 | 9.879 |
21 | 24 | John Edwards Jesse Krohn Nick Catsburg |
GTLM | BMW M8 GTLM | 1'58.360 | 10.123 |
22 | 25 | Bill Auberlen Connor de Phillippi Alexander Sims |
GTLM | BMW M8 GTLM | 1'58.500 | 10.263 |
23 | 3 | Jan Magnussen Antonio Garcia Mike Rockenfeller |
GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'58.762 | 10.525 |
24 | 4 | Marcel Fassler Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner |
GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'58.983 | 10.746 |
25 | 93 | Justin Marks Lawson Aschenbach Mario Farnbacher |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 2'00.337 | 12.100 |
26 | 51 | Pedro Lamy Paul Dalla Lana Mathias Lauda Daniel Serra |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 2'00.424 | 12.187 |
27 | 29 | Alessio Picariello Christopher Mies Sheldon Van Der Linde |
GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 2'00.461 | 12.224 |
28 | 44 | Andy Lally Andrew Davis John Potter |
GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 2'00.531 | 12.294 |
29 | 15 | David Heinemeier Hansson Jack Hawksworth Sean Rayhall |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 2'00.740 | 12.503 |
30 | 58 | Patrick Long Christina Nielsen Robert Renauer Mathieu Jaminet |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 2'00.929 | 12.692 |
31 | 14 | Kyle Marcelli Dominik Baumann Philipp Frommenwiler |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 2'00.966 | 12.729 |
32 | 86 | Alvaro Parente Katherine Legge Trent Hindman |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 2'01.024 | 12.787 |
33 | 96 | Don Yount Markus Palttala Dillon Machavern |
GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 2'01.060 | 12.823 |
34 | 75 | Kenny Habul Thomas Jäger Mikael Grenier |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 2'01.135 | 12.898 |
35 | 48 | Corey Lewis Bryan Sellers Madison Snow |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 2'01.233 | 12.996 |
36 | 64 | Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo Bill Sweedler |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 2'01.244 | 13.007 |
37 | 33 | Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Luca Stolz |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 2'01.278 | 13.041 |
38 | 63 | Cooper MacNeil Gunnar Jeannette Alessandro Balzan |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 2'01.429 | 13.192 |
39 | 69 | Ryan Eversley Tom Dyer Chad Gilsinger |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 2'01.505 | 13.268 |
40 | 73 | Jörg Bergmeister Tim Pappas Patrick Lindsey |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 2'01.609 | 13.372 |
41 | 36 | Marc Miller Kuno Wittmer Till Bechtolsheimer |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 2'01.967 | 13.730 |
42 | 71 | Kenton Koch Loris Spinelli JC Perez |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 2'02.009 | 13.772 |
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