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Pipo Derani quickest for Action Express Racing in opening practice at Road Atlanta…
Pipo Derani led the way in opening practice for this weekend’s TireRack.com Grand Prix at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, leading a Cadillac 1-2 in the session.
The Brazilian laid down a 1:09.743 in his No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R to edge out the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports entry of Sebastien Bourdais by 0.389 seconds.
Harry Tincknell made a late-session improvement to third in the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P.
The Cadillacs received a late-event Balance of Performance adjustment in the build-up to the second round of the Michelin Endurance Cup.
Three Cadillacs finished the session in the top-four, with the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry of Renger van der Zande reeling off a 1:10.482.
The No. 77 Mazda DPi of Oliver Jarvis completed the top-five overall in class.
DPi qualifying is done and another poll for Team Acura's Castroneves.
Mazda pushed these cars hard and I'm curious to hear what they did to the 55 because that thing was throwing sparks all over the track as the titanium skid plates were hitting the ground quite often.
Broadcast is underway on NBC sports and the cars are just now heading out for their warm-up laps.
I'm excited for this race. I think Mazda is a bit behind on BoP but if they can keep it close, it could get real interesting.
nevermind, looks like Dane Cameron just got super aggressive on the start and tried to go inside on the caddy with cold tires and spun.
Fortunately the 55 who was right behind those two didn't get hit
JDC motorsports (yellow) Cadillac swerves to avoid and takes out an LMP2 car which now has pretty bad damage to the rear. I feel bad for the LMP2 guys as there's only 2 of them in this race and if one of them gets knocked out already talk about an empty victory for the other.
yellow flag is out in the first minute but pits are closed so not much should change except for those 2 cars.
I think the Acura that started this mess is undamaged. I think
Acura looks FAST today had built out a 4+ second lead on the #55
they just got hit with a pit lane speed violation so they're getting a drive thru penalty and we should have a new leader in a minute (won't be 55 since they all cycled into the pits together) but once the rest of them come in for fuel it should put Mazda in a good position.
Has there been a single lap that the #10 hasn't lead on?
Good to know that extra weight reduction didn't unbalance things in their favor, not one little bit.
They probably should have given them a 50kg weight reduction along with a 50hp increase while they were at it.
feels like once the Acuras shot themselves in the foot with those penalties it's been all #10
the irony of that is Van der Zan was still bitching yesterday.
***Renger van der Zande told Sportscar365 that he believes the 15 kg weight break given to the Cadillac DPi-V.Rs this weekend is “still not enough.” Cadillacs qualified 2nd, 6th, 7th and 8th for Saturday’s TireRack.com Grand Prix at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. ***
#77 seems to be somewhat keeping pace with the 31 at +/- a second with 3 hours and 44 minutes to go but the 55 is WAY behind the sister car.
about 13 seconds back of the 77
super impressed with how well Pla drove the car today considering he hadn't been in it in almost 9 months.
ultra aggressive and still managed to keep the car clean.
Pla took the lead (from 2nd) when Acura pitted and then he went throttle down since they stayed out an extra lap.
managed to make up enough time that when he handed the car off to Nunez next lap, they still came out in the lead.
2:10 to go and Mazda running strong.
#55 has been off the pace all day but in 4th and running with that second pack
damn it!
last thing we needed right now was a full course yellow. Nunez had a 10+ second lead on the rest of the pack and one of the GTD cars just hit the #31 Whelen Cadillac so now there goes their lead and worse, the #10 Cadillac now gets to pit with everyone else which should get them back on the same fuel window (which they definitely were not on)
09-04-2020, 11:39 AM
