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David Malsher-Lopez

Sebring 12H: Albuquerque tops first practice in WTR-Andretti Acura

GTP

Electrical issues delayed the WTR-Andretti car from strutting its stuff on track, so that Albuquerque had just 14 laps to get the job done, but his eighth lap was a 1min48.303sec around the legendary 3.74-mile track. That was enough for him to shade Renger van der Zande’s top time in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R by 0.133sec, and the Action Express Racing Caddy of Jack Aitken by a further tenth.

Connor De Phillippi was just 0.432sec away from top time in the #25 BMW M Hybrid, but his co-driver Sheldon van der Linde shunted the car in the closing minutes, bringing the session to a halt under a red flag. Augusto Farfus in the sister BMW was fifth, but 0.6sec behind.

The #6 Porsche 963 of Porsche Penske Motorsport ran 29 laps, but was 1.1sec down on Albuquerque’s benchmark.

Having been delayed in hitting the track by an electronics problem, the Meyer Shank Racing Acura then ground to a halt with less than 20mins of the session left, before occupant Tom Blomqvist had set a truly representative time. That brought out the second red flag of the session.

When the session restarted with 10mins to go, Matt Campbell went off on cold tires at Turn 3 after just one lap in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963, then limping back to the pits, for a new rear end, but unable to set a true flyer due to the final red flag for the crashed BMW.

LMP2

Christian Rasmussen of Era Motorsport topped the class, just over two-tenths of a second faster than Giedo van der Garde of TDS Racing, with George Kurtz of Crowdstrike Racing by APR in third, mere hundredths behind. Scott Huffaker was a further tenth back in the second TDS machine with Paul-Loup Chatin fifth for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports.

LMP3

Up until the final five minutes, the smallest prototypes were led by Felipe Fraga in the Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320, but Dakota Dickerson of Jr III Racing nipped ahead by half a tenth to claim top spot. Gabby Chaves of Andretti Autosport was a further half second in arrears, but ahead of the fastest Duqueine-mounted driver, Nico Varrone (AWA).

GTD Pro / GTD

After IMSA’s Balance of Performance left the Porsche 911 GT3 Rs lame during the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, they appear to be back in the hunt here at Sebring. Trent Hindman wheeled the #77 Wright Motorsports Porsche to top time in the GT3 cars, ahead of Jack Hawksworth who led the GTD Pro runners in the Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F.

Kyle Marcelli’s Racers Edge Motorsport with WTR Acura NSX was third ahead of a second Lexus, the GTD entry piloted by Parker Thompson, while Mikael Grenier was fifth in the Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3.

Second practice begins at 3.50pm local (Eastern) time, with third practice commencing at 7.45pm.

Cla Num Driver Class Chassis Laps Time Gap
1 10 United States Ricky Taylor
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
Switzerland Louis Deletraz
GTP Acura ARX-06 14 1'48.303  
2 01 France Sébastien Bourdais
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
New Zealand Scott Dixon
GTP Cadillac V-Series.R 28 1'48.436 0.133
3 31 Brazil Pipo Derani
United Kingdom Alexander Sims
United Kingdom Jack Aitken
GTP Cadillac V-Series.R 33 1'48.534 0.231
4 25 United States Connor de Phillippi
United Kingdom Nick Yelloly
South Africa Sheldon Van Der Linde
GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 23 1'48.735 0.432
5 24 Austria Philipp Eng
Brazil Augusto Farfus
Germany Marco Wittmann
GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 24 1'49.353 1.050
6 6 United Kingdom Nick Tandy
France Mathieu Jaminet
United States Dane Cameron
GTP Porsche 963 29 1'49.437 1.134
7 60 United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
United States Colin Braun
Brazil Helio Castroneves
GTP Acura ARX-06 7 1'50.893 2.590
8 18 United States Dwight Merriman
United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
Christian Rasmussen
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 37 1'50.926 2.623
9 35 France François Heriau
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
United States Josh Pierson
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 39 1'51.140 2.837
10 04 United States George Kurtz
United Kingdom Ben Hanley
Nolan Siegel
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 37 1'51.166 2.863
11 11 United States Steven Thomas
Denmark Mikkel Jensen
United States Scott Huffaker
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 37 1'51.275 2.972
12 52 United States Ben Keating
France Paul-Loup Chatin
Alex Quinn
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 35 1'51.310 3.007
13 20 Denmark Dennis Andersen
United Arab Emirates Ed Jones
Denmark Anders Fjordbach
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 35 1'51.458 3.155
14 8 Canada John Farano
New Zealand Scott McLaughlin
United States Kyffin Simpson
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 32 1'51.708 3.405
15 7 Australia Matt Campbell
Brazil Felipe Nasr
Denmark Michael Christensen
GTP Porsche 963 5 1'51.892 3.589
16 51 United States Eric Lux
Canada Devlin DeFrancesco
Brazil Pietro Fittipaldi
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 25 1'52.843 4.540
17 30 United States Ari Balogh
Canada Garett Grist
United States Dakota Dickerson
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 36 1'56.349 8.046
18 74 United States Gar Robinson
Brazil Felipe Fraga
Australia Josh Burdon
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 32 1'56.417 8.114
19 36 United States Jarett Andretti
Colombia Gabby Chaves
Glenn van
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 20 1'56.982 8.679
20 17 Canada Anthony Mantella
United Kingdom Wayne Boyd
Nico Varrone
LMP3 Duqueine D08 31 1'57.098 8.795
21 85 United States Till Bechtolsheimer
Netherlands Tijmen van der Helm
Daniel Goldburg
LMP3 Duqueine D08 26 1'57.186 8.883
22 4 Seth Lucas
Tonis Kasemets
United States Trenton Estep
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 32 1'57.229 8.926
23 33 United States Lance Willsey
Portugal Joao Barbosa
Nicolas Pino
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 29 1'57.333 9.030
24 38 Christopher Allen
Robert Mau
United States Tristan Nunez
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 28 1'59.063 10.760
25 13 Canada Orey Fidani
United Kingdom Matthew Bell
Germany Lars Kern
LMP3 Duqueine D08 32 1'59.362 11.059
26 77 United States Alan Brynjolfsson
United States Trent Hindman
United States Maxwell Root
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 29 2'01.092 12.789
27 14 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United Kingdom Ben Barnicoat
United States Kyle Kirkwood
GTD PRO Lexus RC F GT3 26 2'01.156 12.853
28 93 United States Ashton Harrison
Costa Rica Danny Formal
Canada Kyle Marcelli
GTD Acura NSX GT3 30 2'01.194 12.891
29 12 United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Aaron Telitz
Canada Parker Thompson
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 29 2'01.350 13.047
30 32 United States Mike Skeen
Canada Mikael Grenier
United States Kenton Koch
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 19 2'01.378 13.075
31 62 Brazil Daniel Serra
Italy Davide Rigon
Brazil Gabriel Casagrande
GTD PRO Ferrari 296 GT3 31 2'01.394 13.091
32 44 United States John Potter
United States Andy Lally
United States Spencer Pumpelly
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 29 2'01.437 13.134
33 16 United States Ryan Hardwick
Belgium Jan Heylen
Canada Zacharie Robichon
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 30 2'01.447 13.144
34 23 United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Spain Alex Riberas
United Kingdom David Pittard
GTD PRO Aston Martin Vantage GT3 31 2'01.450 13.147
35 57 United States Russell Ward
Switzerland Philip Ellis
Netherlands Indy Dontje
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 28 2'01.529 13.226
36 79 Spain Daniel Juncadella
France Jules Gounon
Germany Maro Engel
GTD PRO Mercedes AMG GT3 26 2'01.590 13.287
37 63 Frank Perera
South Africa Jordan Lee Pepper
France Romain Grosjean
GTD PRO Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 27 2'01.662 13.359
38 92 United States David Brule
United States Alec Udell
France Julien Andlauer
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 26 2'01.705 13.402
39 66 Sheena Monk
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
United States Marc Miller
GTD Acura NSX GT3 32 2'01.708 13.405
40 3 Spain Antonio Garcia
United States Jordan Taylor
United States Tommy Milner
GTD PRO Corvette C8.R GTD 30 2'01.793 13.490
41 91 Alan Metni
Netherlands Kay van Berlo
Australia Jaxon Evans
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 25 2'01.833 13.530
42 27 Canada Roman De Angelis
Denmark Marco Sorensen
United Kingdom Ian James
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 29 2'01.991 13.688
43 47 Italy Roberto Lacorte
Italy Giorgio Sernagiotto
Italy Antonio Fuoco
GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 19 2'02.034 13.731
44 78 Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
Italy Loris Spinelli
Chile Benjamin Hites
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 17 2'02.082 13.779
45 96 United States Patrick Gallagher
United States Robby Foley
Michael Dinan
GTD BMW M4 GT3 30 2'02.142 13.839
46 1 United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
United States Corey Lewis
GTD BMW M4 GT3 25 2'02.272 13.969
47 83 Switzerland Rahel Frey
Belgium Sarah Bovy
Denmark Michelle Gatting
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 27 2'02.278 13.975
48 95 United States Bill Auberlen
Chandler Hull
United States John Edwards
GTD PRO BMW M4 GT3 22 2'02.366 14.063
49 9 Austria Klaus Bachler
France Patrick Pilet
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor
GTD PRO Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 27 2'02.504 14.201
50 80 PJ Hyett
Seb Priaulx
United States Gunnar Jeannette
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 31 2'02.518 14.215
51 023 Onofrio Triarsi
Charles Scardina
Italy Alessio Rovera
GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 16 2'02.809 14.506
52 21 France Simon Mann
Spain Miguel Molina
Italy Francesco Castellacci
GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 26 2'02.883 14.580
53 70 United States Brendan Iribe
Switzerland Frederik Schandorff
United Kingdom Ollie Millroy
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 33 2'03.103 14.800
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