MSR Roar Form Continues as Blomqvist Leads Third Session

Tom Blomqvist kept Meyer Shank Racing at the top of Roar Before the Rolex 24 timing sheets by setting the fastest lap during the first of three Saturday sessions.

The Meyer Shank Racing driver led a one-two for Acura as Louis Deletraz ranked second overall for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, ahead of the two Porsche 963s from Porsche Penske Motorsport.

Blomqvist, driving the No. 60 Acura ARX-06, set the leading time of 1:35.365 in the early stages of the 90-minute session and remained at the top of the table throughout.

WTR, meanwhile, missed an early chunk of the session due to a fuel pump switch on its No. 10 Acura but joined the Meyer Shank car at the sharp end of the order when Deletraz produced a 1:35.493 just before the one-hour mark.

Reigning European Le Mans Series champion Deletraz edged ahead of No. 6 Porsche driver Dane Cameron by five-thousandths of a second, while Felipe Nasr slotted into fourth aboard the No. 7 factory Porsche.

The quickest Cadillac V-LMDh was the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing machine driven by Sebastien Bourdais, who submitted a time of 1:35.724.

BMW M Team RLL propped up the GTP class behind the three Cadillacs, with the German manufacturer’s fastest car lapping 0.67 seconds slower than the outright pace.

GTD teams Inception Racing and Team Korthoff Motorsports ran first and second overall in the production-based ranks, beating the pacesetter in the GTD Pro class.

Inception’s No. 70 McLaren 720S GT3 held the top spot after Frederik Schandorff clocked a 1:46.842 early on. Kenton Koch later made an improvement in the Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, but Schandorff still led by half a second.

Team TGM led an Aston Martin 1-2 in GTD Pro courtesy of Owen Trinkler’s 1:47.359, while Ross Gunn took second for The Heart of Racing. The nine Pro cars could be found at various stages throughout the wider GT order.

Nicolas Lapierre set the pace in the LMP2 category for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, with the Frenchman ending up a quarter of a second quicker than second-placed Mikkel Jensen driving for TDS Racing.

Dakota Dickerson produced the best time in LMP3 for Ligier squad Andretti Autosport.

Session 3 was briefly red-flagged after 35 minutes when Fred Poordad pulled the Proton Competition Oreca LMP2 over to the side of the track with a puncture.

The fourth Roar session, marking the final daytime run before Rolex 24 at Daytona qualifying on Sunday, starts at 3:10 p.m. ET.

RESULTS: Session 3