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David Malsher-Lopez

Long Beach IMSA: Derani's AXR Cadillac leads Practice 1

The #31 Whelen Engineering car ran 26 laps, Derani's best effort of 1min12.387sec coming on his final flyer and it was almost a second faster than the opposition.  

That primarily came from Richard Westbrook, for whom this will be a first crack at Long Beach at the wheel of a Prototype. Despite a brief spin at Turn 8 with 15mins to go, causing a red flag, his JDC Miller MotorSports Caddy finished second, just ahead of the impressively steered Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 of Tom Blomqvist, a rookie to both the series and track. The #60 did venture into the runoof at Turn 1 but continued unharmed. 

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Lynn were almost a second apart in fourth and sixth respectively, split by Ricky Taylor’s best effort in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura.  

Three GTD cars beat the best GTD Pro time, with Bill Auberlen – now inducted into the Long Beach Walk of Fame – topping the times in the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 with a 1min19.891sec lap.  

He was over four-tenths clear of Marc Miller in the Gradient Racing Acura NSX, who in turn was mere hundredths faster than Frankie Montecalvo’s best effort in Vasser Sullivan Racing’s Pro-Am entry Lexus RC F. 

Ross Gunn in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage was P1 among the GTD Pro cars but he was only hundredths ahead of WeatherTech Racing’s newcomre Raffaele Marciello, as the team begins its full-time switch from Porsche to Mercedes. 

However, Mathieu Jaminet proved there’s still plenty of life left in the old 911 GT3 R with third fastest in Pfaff Motorsports entry, again less than a tenth off Riberas, despite the car’s two visits to runoff areas – once at Turn 6, the other at Turn 1.  

Ben Barnicoat was next up in the VSR Lexus he shares with Jack Hawksworth, but he brought the session to a premature close with a minor shunt at Turn 1 that brought out the red flag for a fourth time. 

Second practice commences at 1.15pm PT. 

Cla Driver Class Chassis Laps Time Gap
1 Brazil Pipo Derani
United States Tristan Nunez
DPi Cadillac DPi 26 1'12.387  
2 France Tristan Vautier
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
DPi Cadillac DPi 22 1'13.329 0.942
3 United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
DPi Acura DPi 25 1'13.364 0.977
4 Netherlands Renger van der Zande
France Sébastien Bourdais
DPi Cadillac DPi 20 1'13.642 1.255
5 United States Ricky Taylor
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
DPi Acura DPi 24 1'13.703 1.316
6 New Zealand Earl Bamber
United Kingdom Alex Lynn
DPi Cadillac DPi 23 1'14.509 2.122
7 United States Robby Foley
United States Bill Auberlen
GTD BMW M4 GT3 25 1'19.891 7.504
8 Germany Mario Farnbacher
United States Marc Miller
GTD Acura NSX GT3 27 1'20.296 7.909
9 United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Aaron Telitz
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 25 1'20.373 7.986
10 United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Spain Alex Riberas
GTD PRO Aston Martin Vantage GT3 24 1'20.401 8.014
11 United States Cooper MacNeil
Italy Raffaele Marciello
GTD PRO Mercedes-AMG GT3 27 1'20.448 8.061
12 Australia Matt Campbell
France Mathieu Jaminet
GTD PRO Porsche 911 GT3 R 25 1'20.459 8.072
13 United States Russell Ward
Switzerland Philip Ellis
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 26 1'20.519 8.132
14 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United Kingdom Ben Barnicoat
GTD PRO Lexus RC F GT3 21 1'20.628 8.241
15 Spain Antonio Garcia
United States Jordan Taylor
GTD PRO Corvette C8.R GTD 23 1'20.703 8.316
16 United States Brendan Iribe
Switzerland Frederik Schandorff
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 28 1'20.780 8.393
17 United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
GTD BMW M4 GT3 23 1'20.825 8.438
18 United States Mike Skeen
United Kingdom Stevan McAleer
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 26 1'20.985 8.598
19 United States Connor de Phillippi
United States John Edwards
GTD PRO BMW M4 GT3 8 1'21.004 8.617
20 United States Rob Ferriol
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 25 1'21.025 8.638
21 United States Robert Megennis
United States Jeff Westphal
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 13 1'21.109 8.722
22 Jon Miller
United States Paul Holton
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 23 1'21.307 8.920
23 Canada Roman De Angelis
Belgium Maxime Martin
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 26 1'21.442 9.055
24 United States Ryan Eversley
Australia Aidan Read
GTD Acura NSX GT3 24 1'21.522 9.135
25 United States Ryan Hardwick
Belgium Jan Heylen
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 26 1'21.564 9.177
26 Kyle Washington
United States James Sofronas
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 24 1'21.595 9.208
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