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David Malsher-Lopez

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