Aitken Sets The Pace For 53-Car Petit Le Mans Field

BRASELTON, Ga. — With four year-long IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship titles on the line, 53 competitors pounded around Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta Thursday in preparation for the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.

Jack Aitken set the overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class pace in two of three Thursday practice sessions in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R. The 30-year-old driver of English and South Korean heritage improved his morning time of 1 minute, 11.260 seconds (128.318 miles per hour) in the 90-minute morning run to 1:10.882 (129.002 mph) with eight minutes remaining in the afternoon session. Aitken shares the No. 31 Cadillac with Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.

“It’s been a good start for the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac, carrying over from our victory at Indianapolis (Sept. 21 in the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway),” stated Aitken. “We had a productive couple of days of testing here in early September and look to carry this form into qualifying tomorrow.”

The pace comes in the first IMSA race weekend after Cadillac Racing announced Jeromy Moore as its new LMDh chief engineer, overseeing both of Cadillac’s global prototype programs.

“As a member of the Cadillac Racing team, I’ll apply my experience across vastly different programs to guide and complement the already strong team to help achieve our ultimate goals of success in Le Mans, across the WEC and IMSA series,” Moore said.

Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian has posed the strongest threat to the three-car Cadillac GTP attack in the second half of the season, and Tom Blomqvist ran second to Aitken in the morning.

The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, which leads the GTP driver’s and manufacturer’s championships, moved up from seventh to second in the afternoon, with Matt Campbell posting a 1:11.175 (128.471 mph) flyer with just five minutes to go.

Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet lead Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche by 131 points, with Dries Vanthoor and Philipp Eng another 14 points back. Vanthoor was fourth fastest Thursday afternoon in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 he shares with Eng and Kevin Magnussen. Julien Andlauer (No. 6) and Laurens Vanthoor (No. 7) are the Penske Porsche third drivers this race, with Colin Braun and Scott Dixon joining Blomqvist aboard MSR’s No. 60 Acura.

The manufacturer’s championship is much closer, with Porsche holding a slim 7-point edge over Acura. BMW is 118 points off the lead.

Urs Kuratle, Director of Factory Racing for Porsche Motorsport, said it is highly unlikely any kind of team orders will come into play during Saturday’s 10-hour race.

“With the No. 6 car in the position it’s in for the championship, we don’t think it’s necessary to do some management decisions,” Kuratle said. “The drivers handle that quite well on the track and usually we try to leave them. The No. 6 car has a clear lead, and we need as many points as possible in the manufacturer’s championship.

“We feel good here, as prepared as we can be,” he added. “The weather seems to be stable, so that’s one thing to take out from the calculations. When you lead the championship, it’s always good to have stable conditions.”

The weekend forecast calls for conditions similar to Thursday’s – dry, with temperatures in the low- to mid-70s.

In Le Mans Prototype 2, the championship leading No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 driven by Dane Cameron set fastest time of the day with a 1:12.859 (125.502 mph) lap in the morning session.

However, Cameron’s co-driver P.J. Hyett will need to set two laps fast enough to potentially secure the class Motul Pole Award after the No. 99 car was dinged for causing a red flag during the afternoon session and will therefore forfeit the fastest qualifying lap. Cameron and Hyett share their No. 99 “Spike” LMP2 car – adorned in a special “Spooky” Halloween livery this weekend – with third driver Jonny Edgar.

Albert Costa (No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3), who runs a close second to Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims (No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R) in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) standings, faces a similar hurdle after also causing a stoppage of the afternoon session. Costa, Giacomo Altoe and Davide Rigon are in the No. 81 Ferrari with Daniel Juncadella joining Garcia and Sims in the No. 3 Corvette.

The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 was the quickest GTD PRO competitor Thursday, with Aaron Telitz laying down a 1:19.180 (115.483 mph) lap early in the afternoon session. Telitz, who shares his car with Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood, was also second fastest in the morning for Lexus, which scored a GTD PRO win at Petit Le Mans in 2022.

Ferrari showed plenty of strength in the GTD class, taking second and third in the morning behind the points-leading No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, then sweeping the top three spots in the afternoon. Lorenzo Patrese, the 20-year-old son of longtime Formula 1 competitor Riccardo Patrese, was quickest in the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 at 1:19.077 (115.633 mph), followed by a pair of similar entries fielded by Triarsi Competizione. Patrese shares his No. 47 Ferrari with Roberto Lacorte and Miguel Molina.