Aitken puts Cadillac atop opening Petit Le Mans practice

Cadillac Whelen and driver Jack Aitken turned in the quickest lap around Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in the first of three practice sessions for the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans, held under mild, overcast conditions.

Aitken led the GTP class in his No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R, setting a lap of 1m11.260s early in the 90-minute practice session, putting him four-tenths clear of the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06.

Tom Blomqvist went second quickest in the No. 60 Acura with a 1m11.671s, and Ross Gunn went a surprising third (1m11.959s) in the V12-powered No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie.

Nick Yelloly and Louis Delétraz rounded out the top five in the No. 93 MSR Acura and the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, respectively. Championship co-leader Mathieu Jaminet was seventh fastest in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.

The best time in LMP2 was set by championship leader Dane Cameron in the bony No. 99 AO Racing ORECA 07-Gibson, who set a 1m12.859s.

Just behind Cameron was LMP2 Michelin Endurance Cup co-leader Tom Dillmann in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA (1m12.958s), with his countryman Sébastien Bourdais (No. 8 Tower Motorsports) in third, and Mikkel Jensen (No. 11 TDS Racing) in fourth. Logan Sargeant rounded out the top five from LMP2 in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports car.

Leading GTD PRO was the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, but it was close at the top between it and the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3. Dan Harper in the BMW set a 1m19.615s, only 0.022s quicker than the best time from Aaron Telitz in the Lexus.

Telitz’s time of 1m19.637s was only one millisecond quicker than the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Philip Ellis, who led the GTD class with a 1m19.638s, a good start to the weekend for the points leader.

The top four cars in GTD were close together, with the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Kenton Koch in second, the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi in third, and the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Robby Foley in fourth. Frederik Schandorff was fifth in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari.

Behind them were the third and fourth-placed GTD PRO cars, the No. 1 Paul Miller BMW of Neil Verhagen, and the No. 3 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.R of championship leader Antonio García. Andrea Caldarelli completed the top five in GTD PRO in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.

Practice 1 was interrupted by two incidents which brought out red flags. Just past the half-hour mark, John Potter in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo spun at Turn 5 and beached his “Virtual Energy” special in the gravel. The car was retrieved and Magnus Racing was able to get back on course.

The second red flag came with around 20 minutes left after a collision between James Roe in the No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA, and Robert Megennis in the No. 021 Triarsi Ferrari, who got spun out by Roe as they descended down the Esses into turns four and five.

Both the No. 73 ORECA and No. 44 Aston Martin will lose their fastest laps in qualifying tomorrow for causing a red flag.

Practice 2 starts at 3:15pm ET this afternoon.

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