Photo by: Kenneth May
Corvette Racing, CORE autosport 1-2 in their classes
Klaus Graf went fastest again Friday at VIRginia International Raceway – this time in an official session for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. He set a lap of 1:36.586 (121.881 mph) in Muscle Milk Pickett Racing’s Honda Performance Development ARX-03a prototype in the morning’s opening practice for the VIR 240.
Graf, teaming with Lucas Luhr, was 0.871 seconds quicker than his time in Thursday’s test session. Friday’s time was 1.983 seconds clear of Dyson Racing’s Guy Smith in the No. 16 Lola-Mazda coupe that is running with a flywheel hybrid system for the first time this weekend.
Level 5 Motorsports’ Christophe Bouchut was third overall and first in P2 at 1:39.763 (118.000 mph) in the No. 055 HPD ARX-03b that he shares with Scott Tucker. Bouchut went 0.836 seconds quicker than Conquest Endurance’s Martin Plowman in the No. 37 Morgan-Nissan.
Corvette Racing went 1-2 in GT, led by Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette C6 ZR1 with a lap of 1:46.973 (110.046 mph). He was 0.291 seconds clear of Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette with Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jörg Bergmeister third in class at 1:47.338 (109.672 mph); he drives the No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.
CORE autosport had the two fastest cars in Prototype Challenge. Colin Braun in the No. 05 ORECA FLM09 set a best time of 1:42.117 (115.280 mph)to go 0.101 seconds quicker than Tom Kimber-Smith in the No. 06 sister car. Bruno Junqueira finished the session third for RSR Racing at 1:42.482 (114.869 mph).
Jeroen Bleekemolen made himself quickly at home with NGT Motorsport by posting the best time in GT Challenge – a 1:53.298 (103.903 mph) in the No. 30 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup he shares with Henrique Cisneros. The top three cars were covered by just 0.342 seconds. TRG’s Spencer Pumpelly was second at 1:53.640 (103.590 mph), just 0.020 seconds clear of Alex Job Racing’s Leh Keen.
Friday’s second practice is set for 2:20 p.m., with qualifying scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.
Source: ALMS
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