Aitken and Cadillac lead the way again in second Petit Le Mans practice

Jack Aitken and Cadillac Whelen led Practice 2 for the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans, following up on a strong run in Practice 1 this morning.

Towards the very end of a 90-minute session, Aitken went to the top in the red No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R, setting the fastest time of the weekend with a 1m10.882s to unseat the blue No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque, who’d set a 1m11.290s.

Practice 2 was interrupted by three red flags: Only minutes after the start, the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 suffered a mechanical problem and stopped at the bottom of the esses before Albert Costa could get in a rhythm. That stoppage caused a red flag and will result in the loss of the car’s fastest lap in qualifying tomorrow.

That same penalty was also given to the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2, which spun in avoidance of another car down at the Turn 10 chicane, stopped, and was hit by the No. 65 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3 of Christopher Mies with a half-hour to go. With 20 minutes left, Wyatt Brichacek spun and beached the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, identical to the way John Potter brought out a red flag in Practice 1.

But up front, it was Aitken in front, and GTP championship leader Matt Campbell in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in second. A late improvement from the Australian driver to a 1m11.175s put him ahead of Albuquerque, who shuffled down to fourth.

Dries Vanthoor, who led most of the session in the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, finished fourth (1m11.303s) while Ross Gunn was a solid fifth aboard the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie (1m11.356s).

Another fast Aussie, Alex Quinn, led the LMP2 class for Crowdstrike by APR; Quinn in the No. 04 Oreca 07-Gibson set a 1m13.074s to go three-tenths clear of TDS Racing’s Hunter McElrea, who turned in a 1m13.310s.

Oliver Jarvis (No. 18 Era Motorsport), Juan Manuel Correa (No. 2 United Autosports USA), and Benjamin Pedersen (No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports) rounded out the top five in LMP2. Ahead of qualifying, Daniel Goldburg has the fastest time among LMP2 Bronze drivers with a 1m13.855s.

The best time in GTD PRO was recorded by Aaron Telitz in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, at 1m19.180s. That was enough to go two-hundredths quicker than the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 of Sebastian Priaulx in second. But the top time of all GT cars belonged to the GTD class No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, which set a 1m19.077s in the hands of Lorenzo Patrese.

It was a Ferrari 1-2-3 at the top of GTD, with Kenton Koch setting a 1m19.158s in the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari, ahead of the sister No. 021 Triarsi Ferrari of Riccardo Agostini.

Patrick Gallagher (No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW) and Jan Heylen (No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin) rounded out the top five in GTD.

Over in GTD PRO, Costa and the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari rebounded to finish third fastest in class, ahead of Nicky Catsburg (No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R) in fourth, and Dan Harper (No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO) in fifth.

Practice 3 starts tonight at 7:30pm ET.

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