Aitken Quickest in Opening Petit Practice

Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken topped the opening practice session for Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Aitken reeled off a best lap of 1:11.260 aboard the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R, putting him 0.411 seconds clear of Tom Blomqvist’s No. 60 Acura ARX-06.

Ross Gunn picked up third in the No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie, setting a time of 1:11.959 that was just 0.011 seconds quicker than the No. 93 Acura in the hands of Nick Yelloly.

Louis Deletraz rounded out the top five in the No. 4o Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, with Romain Grosjean sixth in the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63.

Mathieu Jaminet was the best placed Porsche Penske Motorsport driver in seventh, while Ricky Taylor, Marco Wittmann and Dries Vanthoor completed the overall top ten.

LMP2 points leader Dane Cameron topped the class aboard the No. 99 AO Racing Oreca 07 Gibson with a best time of 1:12.859.

In the process, he went 0.099 seconds faster than Tom Dillmann’s No. 43 Inter Europol Competition machine. Dillmann, in turn, narrowly outpaced compatriot Sebastien Bourdais in third.

Dan Harper set the pace in GTD Pro aboard the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, reeling off a 1:19.615 that gave him a margin of 0.018 seconds over Vasser Sullivan Racing driver Aaron Telitz.

Telitz, in turn, was a mere 0.001 seconds quicker than the GTD-leading No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo driven by Philip Ellis.

The 90-minute session to kick off on-track running for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship finale was interrupted by two red flags.

John Potter triggered the first stoppage when he spun the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo into the gravel at Turn 5 and needed to be recovered after roughly half an hour of running.

Then, with 18 minutes remaining, a clash between the No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports Oreca of James Roe and Robert Megennis’ No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 in the Esses brought the session to a halt for the second time.

The second practice session for the WeatherTech Championship is scheduled in 3:15 p.m. EST.

RESULTS: Practice 1