Action Express Tops Second TUSC Petit Le Mans Practice

The championship-leading #5 Action Express Racing Coyote-Corvette driven by WEC and IndyCar ace Sebastien Bourdais was the quickest car on course in the second practice session for the Tudor United SportsCar Championship finale, Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, Thursday afternoon.
Action Express Tops Second TUSC Petit Le Mans Practice
The #5 AXR Coyote-Corvette streaks from Turn 10a to 10b during Thusday afternoon prctice for the 17th Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. (Chris Jasurek/Epoch Times)
Chris Jasurek
10/2/2014
Updated:
10/3/2014

BRASELTON, Ga.—The championship-leading #5 Action Express Racing Coyote-Corvette driven by WEC and IndyCar ace Sebastien Bourdais was the quickest car on course in the second practice session for the Tudor United SportsCar Championship finale, Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, Thursday afternoon.

Bourdais turned the fastest lap of either session, a 1:14.61, half a second quicker that the best effort of Alex Brundle in the #42 Oak Racing Ligier-HondA. Still Brundle in the Ligier took a second-and-a-half off the car’s best morning time.

Ricky Taylor in the #10 WTR Dallara-Corvettte, which led the morning session with a 1:15.087, could match that effort in the afternoon, finishing third with a lap a6 1:15.408.

Gunnar Jeannette turned in the fastest PC lap, a 1:17.533 in the 52 PR1/Mathiesen Oreca he shares with Frank Montecalvo, seven-tenths slower that the best lap of the morning set by the championship-winning Core Autosport team.

GTLM had been led by two Porsches and a Corvette in the morning session, with the Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR topping the times. In the afternoon session, Patrick Long in the #912 Porsche North America RSR was quickest at 1:19.666—not as quick as the car’s morning time, but quickest in GTLM for the session.

Second—almost equal—came the #91 SRT Viper with Marc Goossens lapping the 2.54-mile circuit in 1:19.667, only a thousandth slower.

Jan Magnussen in the #3 Corvette was a relatively enormous four-thousandths off the pace at 1:19.671.

Porsche ruled the GTD class in the morning session, with the three quickest cars and seven in the top ten. Jan Heylen in the #58 Snow Racing 911 America was quickest GTD in the afternoon session with a lap of 1:22.123; GTD points leader Dane Cameron was second at 1:22.563, with Andrew Davis in the #27 Dempsey Racing 911 America next in line with a 1:22.681.

All four classes of the Tudor series practice again Friday morning at 10:10 a.m. EST, and qualifying runs from 4:20 p.m. to 5:40 p.m. Both sessions will be on Timing and scoring, and qualifying will be streamed live on IMSA.com.