Mid-Ohio: Pagenaud tops Friday ALMS practice

Simon Pagenaud in his DeFerran Acura

Simon Pagenaud kept the good vibes going for Acura on Friday morning with the fastest lap at Mid-Ohio Sports Course and the first official practice session for the Acura Sports Car Challenge. The De Ferran Motorsports pilot posted a time of 1:08.823 (118.112 mph) in the Acura ARX-01b that he will share with team boss Gil de Ferran.

Pagenaud, competing in just his third American Le Mans Series race and first race ever at Mid-Ohio, was 0.882 seconds faster than Audi Sport North America’s Dindo Capello in an Audi R10 TDI. The Italian driver was the quickest LMP1 pilot at 1:09.705 (116.617 mph). Third fastest overall was Marco Werner in the second Audi at 1:09.742 (116.555 mph). Capello will drive with Emanuele Pirro and Werner with championship co-leader Lucas Luhr.

Acura scored its first Series overall victory a week ago at Lime Rock Park, courtesy of Patr¢n Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham and Scott Sharp. Three of the four Acura ARX-01bs were first through third in LMP2. Adrian Fernandez sat second in class and fourth overall at 1:09.764 (116.519 mph) in the Acura that he will drive with Luis Diaz. The Mexican star was .009 seconds better than Andretti Green Racing’s Franck Montagny.

You could throw a net over the second- through sixth-place cars. They were separated by just 0.198 seconds.

In GT1, Jan Magnussen posted the quickest time for Corvette Racing with a 1:17.421 (104.995 mph) in the Corvette C6.R that he will drive with Johnny O’Connell. Magnussen, who has won four of the first five rounds with his teammate, was 0.421 seconds better than the sister car of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin.

Dirk Werner threw down a quick late lap to take the top spot in GT2 for Farnbacher Loles Racing and Porsche. The class pole-winner at Lime Rock posted a lap of 1:20.531 (100.940 mph) to beat Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Patrick Pilet whose fastest lap was 1:20.607 (100.845 mph). Werner will drive with Richard Westbrook and Pilet with Johannes van Overbeek.