Miller Goes Fastest in Final Practice

Photo: IMSA

Joel Miller put Mazda Motorsports on top in the third and final practice session for Lone Star Le Mans on Friday morning, setting the fastest time of the weekend so far.

A time of 1:58.033 early in the hour-long session kept his Mazda Prototype at the top of the timesheets, 0.131 seconds ahead of Ricky Taylor in the Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP.

The Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda was third, ahead of the two Action Express Racing cars. The Nos. 31 and 5 AXR-run Corvette DPs had previously been the weekend’s pacesetters.

Tom Kimber-Smith continued to be the fastest of the Prototype Challenge drivers, with a 2:00.238 in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca FLM09 that has led every session so far.

This placed him ahead of the three Starworks Motorsport entries.

Toni Vilander and Risi Competizione were the GT Le Mans leaders, going almost a second quicker than Thursday’s running. The two Ford GTs took second and third in class.

Alex Riberas went faster than Andy Lally’s Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS in the latter stages of the session, in his The Heart of Racing/AJR Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Mike Skeen’s Lone Star Racing Dodge Viper GT3-R completing the top three.

Qualifying for Saturday’s Lone Star Le Mans race at Circuit of The Americas is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. CT.

RESULTS: Practice 3

Jake Kilshaw

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