LUCAS LUHR continued to take the lead in the American Le Mans Series Presented by Patron at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, running first overall and in the P1 class. He lowered his time by more than a second, turning a 1:15.697 in the Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03a/Honda/Michelin/E-10. The team, owned and run by Northern California racer, GREG PICKETT, considers Laguna Seca its home track. The team is based in Benecia, three hours North of Monterey.
The other P1 car, Dyson Racing Lola/Mazda/Dunlop/Isobutanol, had an off which caused mostly cosmetic damage, when CHRIS DYSON spun on cold tires.
Also maintaining its position, in the PC class, was TOM KIMBER-SMITH/CORE Autosport ORECA FLM09/Chevrolet/Michelin/E-10. He was fifth overall, with a lap of 1:19.376. This is Kimber-Smith’s first trip to the 2.238-mile elevated road course.
The other three classes mixed it up, with different leaders.
The P2 class leader was FRANCK MONTAGNY/Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b Honda/Dunlop/E-10, finishing second overall at 1:16.815.
DARREN TURNER/Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage//Michelin/E-10 led the GT class, at 1:23.432, seventeenth overall.
The GTC Class was led by MARTIN RAGGINER/JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup/Yokahama/E-10, twenty-ninth overall with a time of 1:29.031
All 35 of the ALMS field were on track, including Lotus/Alex Job Racing Lotus Evora/Cosworth/Yokahama/E-10. The car was last of the GT cars, twenty-eighth overall. But it was on track and got in nine laps.
ED BROWN/Extreme Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia/Michelin/E-85 beached it in Turn Six, causing a Red Flag for the tow.
By the time the sports cars took to the track Friday afternoon, the track had heated up and the radios were alive with the teams trying to decide what tires to declare/mark for Qualifying. One of the problems was that the track was different in the shade than in the full sun. There also was a fair amount of dust and sand kicked up by over-zealous drivers driving wide of the track.
The top speed I saw recorded on the Start-Finish radar sign was 143 mph, fastest so far of the weekend – from what I saw.