Pagenaud tops first Lime Rock practice

Simon Pagenaud has picked up where de Ferran Motorsports left off two months ago in the American Le Mans Series with the fastest lap in the opening practice session for the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix on Friday. The young Frenchman’s best time was a 47.858 (112.834 mph) around the 1.51-mile, 10-turn circuit at Lime Rock Park.

Pagenaud is driving the team’s XM Acura ARX-02a with team owner Gil de Ferran. The duo won the last two rounds before the break for Le Mans, and their Acura was 1.146 seconds better than Luis Diaz in Lowe’s Fernandez Racing’s Acura ARX-01b entry, the quickest P2 car.

Diaz, whose best lap was a 49.004 (110.195 mph), and teammate Adrian Fernandez are a perfect 4-for-4 this season in P2. Acura also has swept the Series’ two prototype categories at the last three Series events.

David Brabham, last year’s overall pole-winner, was third fastest overall and second in P1. He is driving the Patr¢n Highcroft Racing entry with Scott Sharp, the duo entering as the defending overall race winners.

Next up in fourth overall and third in P1 was Intersport Racing’s Jon Field with a lap of 49.852 (108.321 mph) in the team’s AER-powered Lola B06/10. He will drive with son Clint and Chapman Ducote.

Dyson Racing’s two Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupes were second and third in LMP2. Chris Dyson led the Poughkeepsie, NY-based contingent with a lap of 50.474 (106.986 mph) in the entry that he will share with Guy Smith. Marino Franchitti was less than a second adrift; he is driving with Butch Leitzinger.

In GT2, Danbury, Conn.-based Farnbacher Loles Racing was quickest in its Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Porsche factory driver Wolf Henzler set a lap of 55.338 (97.582 mph) in the car that he is sharing with Bryce Miller. The Farnbacher Loles entry qualified on pole position last year.

BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team’s Bill Auberlen was second in the first of the team’s BMW M3s. Auberlen’s lap of 55.621 (97.086 mph) gave him a gap of 0.045 seconds back to the Ferrari F430 GT of Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo.

ORBIT Racing’s Guy Cosmo was fastest in the new Challenge class with a lap of 1:00.083 (89.876 mph). Teaming with John Baker this weekend, Cosmo last raced in the Series at Lime Rock with B-K Motorsports’ Mazda-powered Courage in 2005.

The husband-wife duo of Martin and Melanie Snow, winners in the first Challenge race at Utah, sat second with Melanie Snow’s time of 1:00.829 (88.773 mph). She was 0.175 seconds better than Bill Sweedler in ORBIT’s second Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry.

The next practice session is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET. Qualifying at 3:35 p.m. ET will be streamed live at SPEEDtv.com.

Results

Pos

Cl. Pos Car No Class Drivers Time Speed Diff Make
1 1 66 P1 de Ferran/Pagenaud 47.858 112.834 -.— Acura ARX 02a
2 1 15 P2 Fernandez/Diaz 49.004 110.195 1.146 Acura ARX-01B
3 2 9 P1 Brabham/Sharp 49.415 109.279 1.557 Acura ARX 02a
4 3 37 P1 J.Field/C.Field/Ducote 49.852 108.321 1.994 Lola B06/10
5 2 16 P2 Dyson/Smith 50.474 106.986 2.616 Lola B09 86 Mazda
6 3 20 P2 Leitzinger/Franchitti 51.347 105.167 3.489 Lola B09 86 Mazda
7 4 12 P1 Burgess/McMurry 53.868 100.245 6.010 Lola B06/10
8 4 19 P2 van der Steur/Pecorari 53.887 100.210 6.029 Radical SR9
9 1 87 GT2 Henzler/Miller 55.338 97.582 7.480 Porsche 911 RSR
10 2 90 GT2 Hand/Auberlen 55.621 97.086 7.763 BMW E92 M3
11 3 62 GT2 Melo/Kaffer 55.666 97.007 7.808 Ferrari 430 Berlinetta GT
12 4 92 GT2 Mueller/Milner 55.790 96.792 7.932 BMW E92 M3
13 5 45 GT2 Bergmeister/Long 55.865 96.662 8.007 Porsche 911 RSR
14 6 18 GT2 Westbrook/Stuck 56.122 96.219 8.264 Porsche 911 RSR
15 7 21 GT2 Farnbacher/James 56.156 96.161 8.298 Panoz Esperante
16 8 40 GT2 Murry/D.Robertson/A.Robertson 56.399 95.746 8.541 Doran Ford GT-R
17 9 44 GT2 van Overbeek/Neiman 56.650 95.322 8.792 Porsche 911 RSR
18 5 48 P1 Mowlem/Johansson 57.654 93.662 9.796 Ginetta-Zytek 09HS
19 10 11 GT2 Feinberg/Hall 58.297 92.629 10.439 Dodge Viper
20 1 47 Chal Baker/Cosmo 1:00.083 89.876 12.225 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
21 2 57 Chal Me.Snow/Ma.Snow 1:00.829 88.773 12.971 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
22 3 08 Chal Brown/Sweedler 1:01.004 88.519 13.146 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
23 4 36 Chal Hoaglund/Faieta 1:01.245 88.170 13.387 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
24 5 02 Chal Parker/Pickering 1:08.629 78.684 20.771 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup

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