Petit Le Mans: Sensational Nasr puts AXR top again in FP4
Action Express Racing’s Felipe Nasr topped fourth practice for this weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans with a lap two seconds under last year’s pole time and over 0.6sec clear of his closest pursuers in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The ex-Formula 1 driver’s Cadillac DPi-V.R lapped the 2.54-mile Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta course in 68.419sec, an average speed of more than 133mph, to go 0.622sec clear of Ricky Taylor’s best in the Acura Team Penske ARX-05 and almost 0.7sec clear of the next fastest Cadillac.
That was the other AXR machine piloted by Filipe Albuquerque, who was nearly 0.2sec clear of Renger van der Zande’s top lap in the Wayne Taylor Racing Caddy.
Timo Bernhard was quickest Mazda RT24-P driver in fifth – Harry Tincknell had a brief off in the #55 car – while championship aspirant (and former champ) Dane Cameron was seventh in the second Acura.
Matt McMurry was less that 0.2sec clear of Kyle Masson in the two-car LMP2 battle.
James Calado’s 1min 15.757sec lap for series returnee Risi Competizione lifted the Ferrari 488 almost half a second clear of its nearest pursuer, Philipp Eng in the #24 RLLR-run BMW M8, while Richard Westbrook was top Ford GT driver in third, a couple of thousandths ahead of Antonio Garcia’s Corvette C7.R.
In GT Daytona, Robby Foley was fastest for Turner Motorsports, his BMW M6 GT3 only 0.061 ahead of Toni Vilander in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3, and 0.070 faster than Ricardo Feller in the Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS.
Jeroen Bleekemolen’s pace suggests the Mercedes AMG-GT3 of Riley Motorsports should be in the hunt for pole.
Qualifying begins at 3.55pm local (Eastern) time.
Session results:
| Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 |  Felipe Nasr  Eric Curran Pipo Derani | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'08.419 | |
| 2 | 7 | Ricky Taylor Helio Castroneves Graham Rahal | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'09.041 | 0.622 |
| 3 | 5 |  Joao Barbosa  Mike Conway Filipe Albuquerque | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.115 | 0.696 |
| 4 | 10 |  Renger van der Zande Jordan Taylor  Matthieu Vaxiviere | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.301 | 0.882 |
| 5 | 77 | Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez  Timo Bernhard | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'09.345 | 0.926 |
| 6 | 85 |  Mikhail Goikhberg Tristan Vautier  Juan Piedrahita | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.517 | 1.098 |
| 7 | 6 | Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya Simon Pagenaud | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'09.667 | 1.248 |
| 8 | 54 | Jon Bennett Colin Braun Romain Dumas | DPi | Nissan DPi | 1'09.716 | 1.297 |
| 9 | 50 | Will Owen  Rene Binder Spencer Pigot | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.863 | 1.444 |
| 10 | 84 |  Simon Trummer  Stephen Simpson Chris Miller | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'09.949 | 1.530 |
| 11 | 55 | Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell Olivier Pla | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'09.987 | 1.568 |
| 12 | 52 | Matt McMurry Gabriel Aubry Dalton Kellett | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1'11.209 | 2.790 |
| 13 | 38 | Cameron Cassels Kyle Masson Andrew Evans | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1'11.398 | 2.979 |
| 14 | 62 | James Calado  Alessandro Pier Guidi Daniel Serra | GTLM | Ferrari 488 GTE | 1'15.757 | 7.338 |
| 15 | 24 |  Jesse Krohn John Edwards Philipp Eng | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'16.237 | 7.818 |
| 16 | 67 |  Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook  Scott Dixon | GTLM | Ford GT | 1'16.365 | 7.946 |
| 17 | 3 |  Jan Magnussen  Antonio Garcia Mike Rockenfeller | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'16.369 | 7.950 |
| 18 | 25 | Tom Blomqvist Connor de Phillippi Colton Herta | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'16.396 | 7.977 |
| 19 | 4 | Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fassler | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'16.494 | 8.075 |
| 20 | 911 | Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy Frédéric Makowiecki | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'16.500 | 8.081 |
| 21 | 912 | Earl Bamber  Laurens Vanthoor Mathieu Jaminet | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'16.616 | 8.197 |
| 22 | 66 | Joey Hand Dirk Muller Sébastien Bourdais | GTLM | Ford GT | 1'16.814 | 8.395 |
| 23 | 96 | Bill Auberlen Robby Foley Dillon Machavern | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'19.462 | 11.043 |
| 24 | 63 | Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander Jeff Westphal | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'19.523 | 11.104 |
| 25 | 29 | Christopher Mies Richard Feller Daniel Morad | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 1'19.532 | 11.113 |
| 26 | 33 | Ben Keating Jeroen Bleekemolen Felipe Fraga | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'19.596 | 11.177 |
| 27 | 44 | John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'19.812 | 11.393 |
| 28 | 47 | Brandon Gdovic Don Yount  Shinya Michimi | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'19.883 | 11.464 |
| 29 | 9 | Scott Hargrove Zacharie Robichon Lars Kern | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'19.925 | 11.506 |
| 30 | 14 | Richard Heistand Jack Hawksworth Parker Chase | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'19.969 | 11.550 |
| 31 | 48 | Bryan Sellers Corey Lewis Marco Seefried | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'20.053 | 11.634 |
| 32 | 86 | Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman Justin Marks | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'20.121 | 11.702 |
| 33 | 57 | Katherine Legge Ana Beatriz Christina Nielsen | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'20.130 | 11.711 |
| 34 | 12 | Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell Aaron Telitz | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'20.383 | 11.964 |
| View full results | ||||||
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About this article
| Series | IMSA |
| Event | Road Atlanta |
| Author | David Malsher-Lopez |
