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BRASELTON, Ga. — With 4 year-long IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship titles on the road, 53 rivals pounded round Michelin Raceway Street Atlanta Thursday in preparation for the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.
Jack Aitken set the general and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class tempo in two of three Thursday apply classes within the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Collection.R. The 30-year-old driver of English and South Korean heritage improved his morning time of 1 minute, 11.260 seconds (128.318 miles per hour) within the 90-minute morning run to 1:10.882 (129.002 mph) with eight minutes remaining within the afternoon session. Aitken shares the No. 31 Cadillac with Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.
“It’s been begin for the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac, carrying over from our victory at Indianapolis (Sept. 21 within the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway),” acknowledged Aitken. “We had a productive couple of days of testing right here in early September and look to hold this type into qualifying tomorrow.”
The tempo comes within the first IMSA race weekend after Cadillac Racing introduced Jeromy Moore as its new LMDh chief engineer, overseeing each of Cadillac’s world prototype packages.
“As a member of the Cadillac Racing group, I’ll apply my expertise throughout vastly completely different packages to information and complement the already robust group to assist obtain our final targets of success in Le Mans, throughout the WEC and IMSA sequence,” Moore stated.
Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian has posed the strongest risk to the three-car Cadillac GTP assault within the second half of the season, and Tom Blomqvist ran second to Aitken within the morning.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, which leads the GTP driver’s and producer’s championships, moved up from seventh to second within the afternoon, with Matt Campbell posting a 1:11.175 (128.471 mph) flyer with simply 5 minutes to go.
Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet lead Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr within the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche by 131 factors, with Dries Vanthoor and Philipp Eng one other 14 factors again. Vanthoor was fourth quickest Thursday afternoon within the No. 24 BMW M Crew RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 he shares with Eng and Kevin Magnussen. Julien Andlauer (No. 6) and Laurens Vanthoor (No. 7) are the Penske Porsche third drivers this race, with Colin Braun and Scott Dixon becoming a member of Blomqvist aboard MSR’s No. 60 Acura.
The producer’s championship is far nearer, with Porsche holding a slim 7-point edge over Acura. BMW is 118 factors off the lead.
Urs Kuratle, Director of Manufacturing facility Racing for Porsche Motorsport, stated it’s extremely unlikely any form of group orders will come into play throughout Saturday’s 10-hour race.
“With the No. 6 automotive within the place it’s in for the championship, we don’t assume it’s essential to do some administration choices,” Kuratle stated. “The drivers deal with that fairly effectively on the monitor and normally we attempt to go away them. The No. 6 automotive has a transparent lead, and we’d like as many factors as attainable within the producer’s championship.
“We really feel good right here, as ready as we might be,” he added. “The climate appears to be secure, in order that’s one factor to take out from the calculations. Once you lead the championship, it’s at all times good to have secure circumstances.”
The weekend forecast requires circumstances much like Thursday’s – dry, with temperatures within the low- to mid-70s.
In Le Mans Prototype 2, the championship main No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 pushed by Dane Cameron set quickest time of the day with a 1:12.859 (125.502 mph) lap within the morning session.
Nonetheless, Cameron’s co-driver P.J. Hyett might want to set two laps quick sufficient to doubtlessly safe the category Motul Pole Award after the No. 99 automotive was dinged for inflicting a purple flag through the afternoon session and can due to this fact forfeit the quickest qualifying lap. Cameron and Hyett share their No. 99 “Spike” LMP2 automotive – adorned in a particular “Spooky” Halloween livery this weekend – with third driver Jonny Edgar.
Albert Costa (No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3), who runs a detailed second to Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims (No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R) within the Grand Touring Daytona Professional (GTD PRO) standings, faces an identical hurdle after additionally inflicting a stoppage of the afternoon session. Costa, Giacomo Altoe and Davide Rigon are within the No. 81 Ferrari with Daniel Juncadella becoming a member of Garcia and Sims within the No. 3 Corvette.
The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 was the quickest GTD PRO competitor Thursday, with Aaron Telitz laying down a 1:19.180 (115.483 mph) lap early within the afternoon session. Telitz, who shares his automotive with Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood, was additionally second quickest within the morning for Lexus, which scored a GTD PRO win at Petit Le Mans in 2022.
Ferrari confirmed loads of power within the GTD class, taking second and third within the morning behind the points-leading No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, then sweeping the highest three spots within the afternoon. Lorenzo Patrese, the 20-year-old son of longtime Formulation 1 competitor Riccardo Patrese, was quickest within the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 at 1:19.077 (115.633 mph), adopted by a pair of comparable entries fielded by Triarsi Competizione. Patrese shares his No. 47 Ferrari with Roberto Lacorte and Miguel Molina.
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