Porsches lead GT, Cadillacs stay quick in Sebring night practice

Action Express Racing’s No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R topped the charts for the third-consecutive practice session Thursday, with Pipo Derani leading a 90-minute night session with a lap of 1m46.898s.

Cadillac ran 1-2, with Renger van der Zande +0.454s in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing entry. Ricky Taylor put his father’s No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 in third, +0.544s.

Kamui Kobayashi, sidelined by throttle issues early in the afternoon session, took fourth in the final 20 minutes, +0.841s in the No. 48 Ally Cadillac. He was followed by Sebastien Bourdais, +0.957s in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/JDC-Miller Cadillac; Olivier Pla, +1.047s in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura; and Harry Tincknell, +1.313s in the No. 55 Multimatic Mazda RT24P.

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Mikel Jensen led the five LMP2 competitors, with a 1m50.270s in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA KMP2 07-Gibson.

Wayne Boyd was second, +0.492s in the No. 22 United Autosports ORECA, followed by Gabriel Aubry, +0.605s in the No. 8 Tower Motorsport ORECA; Thomas Merrill, +1.479s in the No, 11 WIN Autosport ORECA; and Ryan Dalziel, +1.816s in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA.

WeatherTech Racing led GTLM for the second straight session, behind Mathieu Jaminet’s lap of 1m56.563s in the No. 79 Porsche 911 RSR-19 (pictured above).

Corvettes took the next two positions, with Antonio Garcia (+0.456s in the No. 3) followed by Alexander Sims (+0.642s in the No. 4). Next were the two Team RLL BMWs, with Connor De Phillippi +0.66s in the No. 25 M8 GTE followed by Jesse Krohn, +0.995s in the No. 24.

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Jeroen Bleekemolen paced the LMP3 competitors, 1m57.269s in the No. 91 Riley Moorsports Ligier JS P320. Spencer Pigot was next, +0.525s in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, followed by Oliver Askew, +0.715s in the No. 7 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine M30-D08, and Colin Braun, +0.847s in the No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier.

GTD saw eight of the 13 competitors separated by less than one second. Laurens Vanthoor led the class at 2m1.241s in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Aaron Telitz took second, +0.36s in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, followed by Franck Perera, +0.514s in the No. 19 GRT Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3, and Patrick Long, +0.641s in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche.

The session ran briefly under the caution at the midway point to help familiarize competitors with a new full-course yellow procedure. This will include a DPi class split, followed by a LMP2/LMP3 class split.

The red flag waved at the 16-minute mark for the No. 12 Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo, which lost its right-rear wheel on its out lap and went off course in Turn 3. That led to a stoppage of 10 minutes.

RESULTS

UP NEXT: Friday’s only on-track activity is qualifying, beginning at 11:15 a.m. ET for GTD Bronze/Silver drivers (for starting position), followed at 11:40 a.m. for GTD Pro drivers for points and GTLM. LMP3 qualifying is at 12:05 p.m., followed by LMP2 and DPi at 12:30 p.m. There will be a two-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge race at 2:35 p.m.

The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will start at 10:10 a.m. on Saturday.