Credit: LAT Images / Copyright: © 2023 Richard Dole
Filipe Albuquerque of the #10 Konica Minolta Wayne Taylor Racing Acura was fastest in the third and final IMSA Petit Le Mans free practice session which took place in the dark at the 2.54 mile Road Atlanta circuit.
The final free practice session took place under sensational night conditions, which gave drivers a taste of the change in visibility which replicates the paramount, closing stages of the grueling 10-hour race.
After 1 hour and 30 minutes, it concluded a day full of free practice running as 52 cars made their last preparations before the all-important qualifying session tomorrow.
There were 57 drivers who needed to complete a minimum of nine laps – roughly over a third of the drivers – who will need to learn these unique conditions where the final two racing hours will take place in.
Many teams were keen to retrieve information about tyre degradation in the 17 degree Celsius air temperature, in addition to the heavy traffic experience at night.
Early in the session, Laurens Vanthoor showed promising pace in the third-placed championship contender #6 Porsche Penske ran in the late 1:11s as the general lap times were expectedly slower to the preceding second free practice running, owing to the cooler ambient conditions.
That considered, Mikkel Jensen in the #11 TDS Racing quickly surpassed the best fastest time in the LMP2 class, as they are looking to retain their championship lead from tomorrow’s qualifying.
After 30 minutes of running, the #93 Acura NSX GT3 of Kyle Marcelli went off at Turn 1 and continued to the motorcycle chicane to ensure his moment was not perpetuated into anything significant.
Another moment of drama occured for Neel Jani in the #59 Proton Competition Porsche 963, whose left-front wheel disembarked from the car before Turn 10 chicane, and was forced to bring his car into the pits on three wheels, with supposed damage caused for the exposed wheel hub.
Furthermore, Jani did not follow protocol when he entered the pitlane, in that he stayed in the fast lane until his pit box; when the car is ‘injured’, drivers are expected to move to the transition lane, and thus a drive-through penalty was awarded for the customer Porsche GTP team.
They completed the minimum amount of laps for a car in the session at 27, not gaining any further track time since their wheel-related incident.
After Antonio Fuoco’s dramatic FP2 accident in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, their bronze driver Roberto Lacorte was not able to complete any night-time running which means he will not be able to run in the dark in the race, from approximately 7.30 pm local time on Saturday.
Fortunately, the bronze drive time will be fulfilled much earlier in the race, before darkness approaches.
Within the final minutes, Matt Campbell briefly lost his #7 Porsche Penske GTP into Turn 10 after locking up the rear, avoiding cause for major damage at a heavy braking zone.
Filipe Albuquerque jumped up to fastest in the final minutes in his #10 Acura ARX-06 with a 1:11.296, which narrowly surpassed Tom Blomqvist’s #60 Meyer Shank Acura’s pacesetter by three-thousandths of a second.
Vanthoor set the #7 Porsche 963 in third with a fastest time of 1:11.372, as fourth position was occupied by the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V Series.R of Jack Aitken and a 1:11.612 time.
The #6 Porsche Penske of Mathieu Jaminet rounded off the top-five order with a 1:11.787.
LMP2 was topped by Mikkel Jensen with a swift time of 1.12.833 in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07, followed by Paul Loup-Chatin’s 1:13.180 in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca, and the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca of Christian Rasmussen who set a 1:13.299.
In the LMP3 class, Nico Varrone was fastest in the #17 AWA Racing Duqueine D08 after he drove a 1:16.846.
Second spot was taken by Gabby Chaves in the #36 Andretti Autosport, who had yet to complete any race laps due to misfortune striking the team’s efforts in the endurance events prior to the Battle on the Bricks.
His time of 1:16.992 surpassed Garett Grist’s 1:17.015 in the #30 Jr Three Racing Ligier JS P320.
GTD Pro’s quickest driver was Mirko Bortolotti in the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, after he ran a 1:19.803.
Second place in GTD Pro, and fourth out of the overall GTD field, was the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 which did a 1:20.192 in the hands of Jules Gounon.
Third place in the category, and sixth overall in the GTD order, was Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, after it completed a 1:20.278 time.
Fastest in the GTD class, and just behind Bortolotti’s #63 Lamborghini, was the #97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen and a 1:19.898.
The #92 Kellymoss Porsche of Julien Andlauer completed a 1:20.016 lap time, as the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche rounded out third in-class from a 1:20.225 put by Jan Heylen.
Qualifying is set to continue the IMSA WeatherTech action tomorrow from 3.20 pm local time (8.20 pm UK).
Keyword: Albuquerque fastest in final night Petit Le Mans practice