Richard Dole/Motorsport Images
Mazdas 1-2 in chilly Petit Le Mans warm-up
Tristan Nunez garnered bragging rights for Mazda with the fastest lap in an incident-free 20-minute warm-up session to prepare for today’s Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
All 31 entries took part in the session, although less than a dozen were within a second of the fastest lap in their respective classes. It was run under clear skies and a chilly 46 degrees F.
Going out midway through the session, Mazda went 1-2. Nunez ran a 1m10.146s in the No. 77 Multimatic-prepared RT-24P, +0.689s ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay in the sister No. 55. Tristan Vautier was third, +0.904s in the No. 5 JDC Miller Motorsports/Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R, with Scott Dixon fourth, +1.552s in the No. 10 Cadillac.
Job van Uitert, running his first race in America, was quickest in LMP2 at 1m10.959s, in the Tower Motorsport by Starworks ORECA LMP2 07-Gibson. That was good for third overall, leading the class by 5.115s.
Matt Campbell led GTLM with a 1m17.422s in the No. 911 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR-19, followed by the BMW Team RLL M8 GTEs of Augusto Farfus, +0.351s in the No. 24, and Colton Herta, +0.704s in the No. 25.
Mario Farnbacher was quickest in GTD at 1m19.793s in the pole-winning Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3, +0.647s ahead of teammate Alvaro Parente in the No. 57. Third was Townsend Bell, +0.711s in the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3, followed by Bill Auberlen, +0.775s in the No. 96 BMW M6 GT3, and Andrew Davis, +0.874s in the No. 30 Audi R8 LMS GT3.
UP NEXT: The Motul Petit Le Mans is set to take the starting flag at 12:40 p.m. ET for 10 hours of racing.
J.J. O'Malley
J.J. O’Malley became news editor for Chris Economaki in 1977, launching him on a career covering all facets of motorsports in many capacities. He did public relations at Watkins Glen International for 14 years; followed by four seasons at Homestead-Miami Speedway; news editor at ISC Publications (now Edgeset Marketing); and communications manager for Grand-Am and IMSA. He’s currently completing his 13th book on racing – a history of the Daytona Prototype – in addition to covering events for RACER.com, Edgeset Marketing and Sunday Group Management. O’Malley is an honorary member of the prestigious Road Racing Drivers Club.
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