The Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillacs didn’t leave pitlane until just before the halfway mark in the DPi class’s 15min session, by which time the Acuras were already in the 1min19sec zone, Wayne Taylor Racing’s Ricky Taylor a tenth quicker than Tom Blomqvist in the Meyer Shank Racing machine. Taylor had just had time to extend that margin to almost half a second, when Sebastien Bourdais delivered a 1min19.017 to put Cadillac on top.
Taylor’s first response drew him to within 0.033sec of the Ganassi car, but couldn’t knock it off the top, even when Bourdais struck the Turn 2 wall trying to improve his time. In fact, it was Blomqvist, a first-timer ont his track, who found the speed from the Acura ARX-05 to beat Bourdais and duck down under the 1min19sec barrier.
