Cameron, AXR Fastest in COTA Practice 3

Dane Cameron and Action Express continued the Cadillac dominance to start the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, pacing Practice 3 for the Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown at Circuit of The Americas while trouble struck Wayne Taylor Racing.

Cameron’s fast lap of 1:56.117 in the No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R came in the team’s new chassis which was forced into action after a heavy accident in the last round at Long Beach.

The lap was 0.215 seconds clear of the sister No. 5 AXR entry driven by Joao Barbosa, while Stephen Simpson carried the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson to the third fastest time of the practice session 0.276 seconds off of the session’s best time.

Ryan Dalziel in the Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi was fourth, followed by his teammate Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 22 entry.

After leading both practices Thursday, Wayne Taylor Racing’s run of dominance came to an end in Practice 3.

Their No. 10 Cadillac stopped on track five minutes into the session, bringing out the only red flag of the morning session, but returned to action to post the eighth fastest lap, 1.373 seconds off the pace.

Nonetheless, the team managed to turn just nine laps and spent significant time in the pit lane.

GT Le Mans class honors in Practice 3 went to Giancarlo Fisichella in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, clocking a fast lap of 2:02.915.

Fisichella was the only driver to break into the 2:02-bracket, coming 0.114 seconds clear of Patrick Pilet in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR.

Alexander Sims in the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM was third, while John Edwards took the sister BMW to third on the time sheets, followed by the No. 67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe.

Series newcomer Mathieu Jaminet turned in a flyer late in Practice 3 to top the GT Daytona class in the Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R by a full 0.405 seconds over Madison Snow in the No. 48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for Paul Miller Racing.

Tristan Vautier turned in a fast lap early in the session that proved to be good enough for third in the SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG GT3 after pacing both of the practices earlier in the weekend, while Colin Braun in the CORE autosport Porsche and Jens Klingmann in the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 completed the top five.

In all, six manufacturers were represented amongst the top eight cars in the class.

Prototype Challenge honors went to once again to Pato O’Ward and Performance Tech Motorsports, besting Stefan Wilson in the BAR1 Motorsports No. 26 Oreca FLM09 by 3.252 seconds and 3.382 seconds back to Don Yount in the final car in the class.

Qualifying for Saturday’s race begins at 12:05 p.m. CT with live coverage available on IMSA.tv. Commentary will be provided by IMSA Radio.

RESULTS: Practice 3