Hartley Puts ESM on Top in Night Practice

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Brendon Hartley and Tequila Patron ESM finished Thursday’s night practice session for the Motul Petit Le Mans on top.

The reigning 24 Hours of Le Mans overall winner posted a time of 1:12.017 during the 90-minute session, the third and final practice session of the day at Road Atlanta.

Driving the No. 2 Nissan Onroak DPi, it is the first time this weekend a DPi has topped a session in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after the Visit Florida Racing and Team Penske LMP2 entries went quickest earlier in the day.

Filipe Albuquerque took the second position in his Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R while Renger van der Zande was third in the Visit Florida Ligier JS P217 Gibson.

Alexander Sims led a BMW Team RLL 1-2 in GT Le Mans ahead of teammate Nicky Catsburg.

The British driver posted a time of 1:17.818 in the No. 25 BMW M6 GTLM while Catsburg was a further 0.227 seconds back.

3GT Racing and Jack Hawksworth led the way in GT Daytona with the No. 15 Lexus RCF GT3, while Connor De Phillippi and Michael Christensen were second and third in the Land Motorsport and Alegra Motorsports cars, respectively.

Pato O’Ward topped the Prototype Challenge class in the Performance Tech Motorsports car. 

Final practice will start at 11:40 a.m. local time on Friday ahead of qualifying at 4:20 p.m.

RESULTS: Practice 3

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.