Aitken Paces Opening Practice in Detroit

Photo: Brett Farmer/IMSA

Jack Aitken led the way in the opening practice session of the weekend for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic on the streets of Detroit, putting Cadillac atop the time sheets.

Aitken’s 1:07.254 lap time in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R was 0.351 seconds clear of the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Renger van der Zande.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship points leader Nick Tandy was third in the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963, with Ricky Taylor and Sheldon van der Linde completing the top-five for Wayne Taylor Racing and BMW M Team RLL, respectively.

Van der Linde’s time meant that four GTP manufacturers were represented in the top-five.

GTD Pro was led by the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims, who pipped teammate Nicky Catsburg to make it s 1-2 run for the team on home soil.

The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Marco Mapelli, who led the session early, was third in class.

The session saw a single red flag, for the No. 40 WTR Cadillac and Andrea Caldarelli’s Pfaff Lamborghini both in the Turn 1 runoff. The two cars resumed to continue in the session.

A number of other cars found the run-offs in Turns 1 and 8 in particular, but escaped any major incident.

Practice 2 is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. EST and will run for two hours.

RESULTS: Practice 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John