Cadillac pips BMW in practice twice red-flagged

Derani lapped his Action Express-run Cadillac V-Series.R in 1m13.477s around the 1.9-mile lap time in the one-hour period.

The GTP class uses the Michelin soft tire at Long Beach for the first time outside of the Daytona night race, and an additional set is available for Saturday’s 100-minute race.

Ricky Taylor made a mistake earlier in #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with the Andretti Acura ARX-06, going straight into Turn 6 before rejoining. Towards the end of the session his partner Louis Spellers did the same in #40.

Nick Tandy took the lead in the first exchange, using the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 – which won here last year following a bold tire gamble – in 1m14.056s.

Philip Nasr made it 1-2 PPM after 10 minutes, though almost a second off Tandy’s pace. Jack Aitken split their party in the #31 AXR Cadillac V-Series.R, gaining within 0.197s of P1, before Sebastien Bourdais brought the Ganassi-driven #01 Caddy into the mix, a further ten behind.

Bourdais – who crashed in the first corner here last year – took first place after 22 minutes and 1m13.531s, beating Tandy by half a second.

Following two red flags for the GTD cars, the pacey Cadillac was out of action again – which meant it recorded the fewest laps of any car in the field. That opened the door for Derani to take the fastest time of the day in 1m13.477s, 0.054s faster than Bourdais.

Connor De Phillippi (RLL BMW M Hybrid) jumped to second on the final lap of the session, just 0.026s off Derani’s pace. Bourdais remained third, ahead of Tandy and the second BMW of Philip Eng.

Nasr dropped to sixth from Richard Westbrook (JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963) and Mike Rockefellerwho has joined Gianmaria Bruni this weekend in Proton’s 963.

A pair of WTRA Acuras languished at the tail end of the GTP class, and Philip Albuquerque eclipsing Deletraz by 0.047s but the pair were 1.8s off the pace.

The fastest Corvette in GTD

In GTD, with no Pro class cars allowed to run this weekend, Frederik Schanorff set the early pace in the #70 McLaren 720 before being pitted. Loris SpinelliLamborghini and Lexus Jack Hawksworth (who is supported in #12).

Hawksworth’s fastest lap of 1m19.516s was challenged by Schandorff, who got to within 0.045s of the Lexus on his second flying visit.

Brendan Iribe then crashed the Inception McLaren into the Turn 1 tire wall, prompting a red flag.

Mikael Grenier was the next driver to go into the wall, avoiding his Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes in Turn 9 and causing another stop minutes after the restart.

After the red flag was drawn, Matt Bell jumped to the top of the times in his AWA-powered Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Bell then had a big time in Turn 5 and slowly rejoined.

Parker Thompson took second in the #89 Lexus FC F with a lap of 1m19.055s set at the end of the session, beating Kyle Marcelli (#45 Lamborghini) and Hawksworth by one second.

Two free practices begin at 3:50 p.m. local time for another one-hour session.