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Jamie Klein

Rolex 24: Albuquerque tops wet night practice for WTR Acura

raThe cold and wet conditions meant that most teams limited their running in Thursday evening's 1hr45min session ahead of Saturday's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener, which is expected to be dry.

Albuquerque set the quickest time at the wheel of the #10 WTR Acura of 1m48.730s with 38 minutes remaining, going 0.733s quicker than the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou.

Tom Blomqvist had put the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura on top early on, but the Anglo-Swedish driver's effort of 1m49.583s still proved good enough for third place.

Fourth overall was the best of the LMP2 runners, with ex-Formula 2 driver Luca Ghiotto leaving it late to post the quickest time in the class of 1m49.597s aboard the #69 G-Drive Racing by APR Oreca.

That was enough to beat the Tower Motorsport Oreca of Rui Andrade by over two seconds, while another IndyCar star, Patricio O'Ward, was third in class aboard the #81 DragonSpeed entry.

Best of the remaining DPi runners was the #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac of Tristan Vautier, who was eighth overall behind the #68 G-Drive LMP2 car driven by DTM star Rene Rast.

The #02 Ganassi Cadillac and the two AXR-run cars, the #31 Whelen Engineering Caddy and the #48 Ally machine, did not set laptimes.

In LMP3, Ugo de Wilde set the pace aboard the #26 Muehlner Motorsports Duqueine with a best effort of 1m56.933s - some 1.7s ahead of the next-best car in the class, the Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier of Seb Priaulx.

GTD Pro was topped by the #97 Proton-run WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, with Daniel Juncadella posting the fastest time of 1m58.431s.

Another Mercedes was fastest in GTD, the SunEnergy1 car of Raffaele Marciello, a further 0.148s back and narrowly ahead of the second-best Pro car, the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Matt Campbell.

Third in GTD Pro was Andrea Caldarelli in the #63 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, followed by Corvette Racing newcomer Marco Sorensen in the #4 C8.R and Matteo Cairoli in the #79 WeatherTech Porsche.

Franck Perera was second-fastest in GTD aboard the T3 Motorsport Lambo and Daniel Morad in the Alegra Motorsports Mercedes.

The final practice session for the 2022 Rolex 24 at Daytona takes place on Friday at 11.15am local time.

Practice results:

Cla Num Driver Class Chassis Time Gap
1 10 United States Ricky Taylor
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
United States Alexander Rossi
United Kingdom Will Stevens
DPi Acura DPi 1'48.730  
2 01 Netherlands Renger van der Zande
France Sébastien Bourdais
New Zealand Scott Dixon
Spain Alex Palou
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'49.463 0.733
3 60 United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
Brazil Helio Castroneves
France Simon Pagenaud
DPi Acura DPi 1'49.583 0.853
4 69 United States John Falb
Australia James Allen
Italy Luca Ghiotto
Tijmen van
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'49.597 0.867
5 8 Canada John Farano
Switzerland Louis Deletraz
Rui Pinto
Austria Ferdinand Habsburg
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'51.782 3.052
6 81 United States Eric Lux
Canada Devlin DeFrancesco
Mexico Patricio O'Ward
United States Colton Herta
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'51.833 3.103
7 68 France François Heriau
Oliver Rasmussen
United Arab Emirates Ed Jones
Germany René Rast
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'52.301 3.571
8 5 France Tristan Vautier
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
France Loic Duval
United States Ben Keating
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'52.793 4.063
9 20 Denmark Dennis Andersen
Denmark Anders Fjordbach
Switzerland Fabio Scherer
Nico Mueller
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'55.137 6.407
10 22 United States Jim McGuire
United Kingdom Guy Smith
United Kingdom Philip Hanson
United States Will Owen
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'56.820 8.090
11 26 Nolan Siegel
Australia Cameron Shields
Charles Crews
Ugo De
LMP3 Duqueine D08 1'56.933 8.203
12 18 Dwight Merriman
United Kingdom Kyle Tilley
United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
France Paul-Loup Chatin
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'57.184 8.454
13 97 United States Cooper MacNeil
Spain Daniel Juncadella
Germany Maro Engel
France Jules Gounon
GTD PRO Mercedes-AMG GT3 1'58.431 9.701
14 75 Australia Kenny Habul
Germany Luca Stolz
Italy Raffaele Marciello
Germany Fabian Schiller
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 1'58.579 9.849
15 9 Australia Matt Campbell
France Mathieu Jaminet
Brazil Felipe Nasr
GTD PRO Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'58.699 9.969
16 71 France Franck Perera
LLarena Mateo
Germany Paul Maximilian
Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'58.812 10.082
17 33 Portugal Joao Barbosa
Malthe Jakobsen
Seb Priaulx
United States Lance Willsey
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'58.836 10.106
18 63 Italy Marco Mapelli
Italy Andrea Caldarelli
Italy Mirko Bortolotti
Switzerland Rolf Ineichen
GTD PRO Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'58.943 10.213
19 28 United States Michael de Quesada
Canada Daniel Morad
Linus Lundqvist
Maximillian Goetz
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 1'59.177 10.447
20 4 United States Tommy Milner
United Kingdom Nick Tandy
Denmark Marco Sorensen
GTD PRO Corvette C8.R GTD 1'59.199 10.469
21 79 United States Cooper MacNeil
Julien Andlauer
Italy Matteo Cairoli
Belgium Alessio Picariello
GTD PRO Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'59.746 11.016
22 52 United States Ben Keating
Denmark Mikkel Jensen
Scott Huffaker
France Nicolas Lapierre
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 2'00.000 11.270
23 3 Spain Antonio Garcia
United States Jordan Taylor
Netherlands Nick Catsburg
GTD PRO Corvette C8.R GTD 2'00.132 11.402
24 6 Efrin Castro
Germany Moritz Kranz
Ori Ayrton
United States Joel Miller
LMP3 Duqueine D08 2'00.229 11.499
25 15 Germany Dirk Muller
Germany Patrick Assenheimer
United States Austin Cindric
GTD PRO Mercedes-AMG GT3 2'00.251 11.521
26 70 Brendan Iribe
Switzerland Frederik Schandorff
United Kingdom Ollie Millroy
South Africa Jordan Lee Pepper
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 2'00.305 11.575
27 39 United States Robert Megennis
United States Corey Lewis
United Kingdom Sandy Mitchell
United States Jeff Westphal
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'00.718 11.988
28 57 United States Russell Ward
Switzerland Philip Ellis
Canada Mikael Grenier
Austria Lucas Auer
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 2'01.102 12.372
29 36 United States Jarett Andretti
Josh Burdon
Sweden Rasmus Lindh
Colombia Gabby Chaves
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 2'01.254 12.524
30 44 United States John Potter
United States Andy Lally
United States Spencer Pumpelly
United Kingdom Jonathan Adam
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 2'01.537 12.807
31 13 Canada Orey Fidani
Canada Kuno Wittmer
Germany Lars Kern
United Kingdom Matthew Bell
LMP3 Duqueine D08 2'01.543 12.813
32 74 United States Gar Robinson
Brazil Felipe Fraga
Netherlands Kay van Berlo
United States Michael Cooper
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 2'01.754 13.024
33 24 Austria Philipp Eng
Germany Marco Wittmann
United Kingdom Nick Yelloly
South Africa Sheldon Van Der Linde
GTD PRO BMW M4 GT3 2'01.842 13.112
34 47 Italy Roberto Lacorte
Italy Giorgio Sernagiotto
Italy Antonio Fuoco
Italy Alessio Rovera
GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 2'01.926 13.196
35 21 Mann Simon
Argentina Luis Perez Companc
Denmark Nicklas Nielsen
Finland Toni Vilander
GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 2'01.938 13.208
36 7 United States Mark Kvamme
United States Austin McCusker
United States Trenton Estep
Antoine Doquin
LMP3 Duqueine D08 2'01.964 13.234
37 96 United States Robby Foley
United States Bill Auberlen
Michael Dinan
Germany Jens Klingmann
GTD BMW M4 GT3 2'02.197 13.467
38 19 United States Bill Sweedler
John Megrue
Italy Giacomo Altoè
United States Jeff Segal
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'02.600 13.870
39 11 Thomas Steven
United States Josh Pierson
United States Jonathan Bomarito
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 2'02.759 14.029
40 12 United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Aaron Telitz
United States Richard Heistand
United States Townsend Bell
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 2'02.849 14.119
41 14 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United Kingdom Ben Barnicoat
United States Kyle Kirkwood
GTD PRO Lexus RC F GT3 2'02.939 14.209
42 99 Rob Ferriol
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
United Kingdom Stefan Wilson
United States Nicholas Boulle
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'03.538 14.808
43 59 Lance Bergstein
Jon Miller
United States Patrick Gallagher
United States Paul Holton
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 2'03.832 15.102
44 98 Canada Paul Dalla Lana
David Pittard
Charlie Eastwood
Denmark Nicki Thiim
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 2'03.890 15.160
45 62 Italy Alessandro Pier Guidi
United Kingdom James Calado
Brazil Daniel Serra
Italy Davide Rigon
GTD PRO Ferrari 488 GT3 2'04.544 15.814
46 54 United States Jon Bennett
United States Colin Braun
United States George Kurtz
Sweden Nic Jönsson
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 2'05.269 16.539
47 42 United States Don Yount
Benja Hites
United States Jaden Conwright
Finland Markus Palttala
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'05.790 17.060
48 38 Dan Goldburg
Hikaru Abe
Canada Garett Grist
Nicolas Pino
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 2'05.800 17.070
49 66 Kyffin Simpson
United States Till Bechtolsheimer
United States Marc Miller
Germany Mario Farnbacher
GTD Acura NSX GT3 2'05.845 17.115
50 32 United States Mike Skeen
United States Guy Cosmo
United Kingdom Stevan McAleer
Australia Scott Andrews
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 2'06.214 17.484
51 64 United States Ted Giovanis
United States Hugh Plumb
United States Matt Plumb
United States Owen Trinkler
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'07.382 18.652
52 29 Netherlands Frits van Eerd
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
Murry Dylan
Netherlands Rinus van Kalmthout
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 2'09.037 20.307
53 16 United States Ryan Hardwick
Canada Zacharie Robichon
Belgium Jan Heylen
Austria Richard Lietz
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'09.678 20.948
54 34 Kyle Washington
United States James Sofronas
Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen
Austria Klaus Bachler
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'09.925 21.195
55 2 Belgium Laurens Vanthoor
France Patrick Pilet
Norway Dennis Olsen
Switzerland Alexandre Imperatori
GTD PRO Porsche 911 GT3 R 0.000  
56 02 New Zealand Earl Bamber
United Kingdom Alex Lynn
Sweden Marcus Ericsson
Denmark Kevin Magnussen
DPi Cadillac DPi 0.000  
57 23 United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Spain Alex Riberas
Belgium Maxime Martin
GTD PRO Aston Martin Vantage GT3 0.000  
58 25 United States Connor de Phillippi
United States John Edwards
Brazil Augusto Farfus
Finland Jesse Krohn
GTD PRO BMW M4 GT3 0.000  
59 27 Canada Roman De Angelis
United Kingdom Ian James
United Kingdom Darren Turner
Tom Gamble
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 0.000  
60 31 Brazil Pipo Derani
United States Tristan Nunez
United Kingdom Mike Conway
DPi Cadillac DPi 0.000  
61 48 Germany Mike Rockenfeller
Japan Kamui Kobayashi
United States Jimmie Johnson
Argentina Jose Maria Lopez
DPi Cadillac DPi 0.000  
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