Petit Le Mans: Cadillac, Ferrari, Lamborghini scoop poles

Nasr’s Cadillac DPi-V.R lapped the 2.54-mile course in 68.457sec which Ricky Taylor tried but failed to beat by 0.141sec in the #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05. Taylor did, however, move onto the front row by beating the second AXR Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque by just 0.031sec.

Dane Cameron was fourth in the championship-leading second Acura, only just ahead of Timo Bernhard in the faster of the two Mazda RT24-Ps.

Simon Trummer (JDC Miller Motorsports), Renger van der Zande (Wayne Taylor Racing), Spencer Pigot (Juncos Racing) and Misha Goikhberg (JDC-Miller) completed the Top 10, all in Cadillacs.

Kyle Masson edged Matt McMurry in the LMP2 battle for honors between Performance Tech Motorsports and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.

Ferrari factory driver James Calado gave Risi Competizione the GT Le Mans pole position it threatened from the moment it took to the track yesterday, the Ferrari 488 lapping in 1min15.639sec.

Perhaps most surprising was the fact that Calado’s nearest competitor was Antonio Garcia, a mere 0.063sec slower in the Corvette C7.R that will make its swansong tomorrow after six glorious years in the GTLM category.

Philipp Eng did a great job in the #24 BMW M8 to beat both Porsche 911 RSRs, both Ford GTs, the second Corvette and his own BMW teammate and newest IndyCar megastar Colton Herta.

Ricky Feller did an excellent job in the Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS to set a new GT Daytona track record – only to see his times deleted because his team touched the car during a red flag period.

That session stoppage was caused by Robby Foley parking his Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 in the Turn 10 gravel at the end of his out lap.

Therefore Corey Lewis scored his second consecutive pole position for Paul Miller Racing – and initially appeared to be leading a Lamborghini as series debutant Shinya Michimi slotted in second just 0.008sec behind.

However, Michimi too had his times deleted, elevating Ben Keating to second in the Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG-GT3 ahead of Jeff Westphal in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.

Justin Marks edged Meyer Shank Racing Acura teammate Christina Nielsen to snatch fourth by one-tenth of a second.

Zacharie Robichon’s Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R was sixth ahead of the AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC Fs.

The raceday warm-up begins at 9.30am local (Eastern) time, with the 22nd Motul Petit Le Mans taking the green flag at 12.05pm.

UPDATE: Corvette's #3 entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as the car was "found to be out of compliance in post-qualifying inspection" according to a team statement.

It promotes the #24 BMW to second in class ahead of the points-leading #912 Porsche.

Session results:

Cla	Num	Driver	Class	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	31	Felipe Nasr Eric Curran Pipo Derani	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'08.457
2	7	Ricky Taylor Helio Castroneves Graham Rahal	DPi	Acura DPi	1'08.598	0.141
3	5	Joao Barbosa Mike Conway Filipe Albuquerque	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'08.629	0.172
4	6	Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya Simon Pagenaud	DPi	Acura DPi	1'08.802	0.345
5	77	Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez Timo Bernhard	DPi	Mazda DPi	1'08.847	0.390
6	55	Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell Olivier Pla	DPi	Mazda DPi	1'09.204	0.747
7	84	Simon Trummer Stephen Simpson Chris Miller	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'09.243	0.786
8	10	Renger van der Zande Jordan Taylor Matthieu Vaxiviere	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'09.253	0.796
9	50	Will Owen Rene Binder Spencer Pigot	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'09.507	1.050
10	85	Mikhail Goikhberg Tristan Vautier Juan Piedrahita	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'09.673	1.216
11	38	Cameron Cassels Kyle Masson Andrew Evans	LMP2	ORECA LMP2	1'10.722	2.265
12	52	Matt McMurry Gabriel Aubry Dalton Kellett	LMP2	ORECA LMP2	1'10.853	2.396
13	54	Jon Bennett Colin Braun Romain Dumas	DPi	Nissan DPi	1'11.511	3.054
14	62	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi Daniel Serra	GTLM	Ferrari 488 GTE	1'15.639	7.182
15	3	Jan Magnussen Antonio Garcia Mike Rockenfeller	GTLM	Corvette C7.R	1'15.702	7.245
16	24	Jesse Krohn John Edwards Philipp Eng	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	1'15.784	7.327
17	912	Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor Mathieu Jaminet	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	1'15.842	7.385
18	66	Joey Hand Dirk Muller Sébastien Bourdais	GTLM	Ford GT	1'15.856	7.399
19	67	Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook Scott Dixon	GTLM	Ford GT	1'15.967	7.510
20	911	Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy Frédéric Makowiecki	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	1'16.037	7.580
21	4	Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fassler	GTLM	Corvette C7.R	1'16.048	7.591
22	25	Tom Blomqvist Connor de Phillippi Colton Herta	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	1'16.327	7.870
23	48	Bryan Sellers Corey Lewis Marco Seefried	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	1'19.530	11.073
24	33	Ben Keating Jeroen Bleekemolen Felipe Fraga	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	1'19.665	11.208
25	63	Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander Jeff Westphal	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	1'19.721	11.264
26	86	Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman Justin Marks	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'19.820	11.363
27	57	Katherine Legge Ana Beatriz Christina Nielsen	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'19.952	11.495
28	9	Scott Hargrove Zacharie Robichon Lars Kern	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'20.200	11.743
29	14	Richard Heistand Jack Hawksworth Parker Chase	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'20.260	11.803
30	12	Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell Aaron Telitz	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	1'20.323	11.866
31	44	John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	1'21.234	12.777
32	29	Christopher Mies Richard Feller Daniel Morad	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3
33	47	Brandon Gdovic Don Yount Shinya Michimi	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3
34	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley Dillon Machavern	GTD	BMW M6 GT3
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