Daytona 24 Hours: Shank Ligier stays ahead in final practice
The Michael Shank Racing Ligier LMP2 coupe maintained its monopoly on the top spot on the timesheets in final free practice ahead of this weekend's Daytona 24 Hours
AJ Allmendinger set the best time of the one-hour session aboard the Ligier-Honda JSP2 that team-mate Oswaldo Negri Jr put on pole position.
His time of 1m40.877s put him three tenths up on Scott Dixon in the best of the Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford EcoBoost DPs, which ended up on a 1m41.204s.
Third fastest was Joao Barbosa in the lead Action Express Racing Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DP, a further tenth and a half behind.
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Rubens Barrichello was fourth in the Starworks Motorsports Riley-Dinan/BMW DP on a 1m41.401s and Charlie Kimball claimed fifth in the second Ganassi car with a 1m41.567s.
The #1 Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD-Honda ARX-04b ran for the first time since Thursday morning's opening free practice session after suffering engine problems related to an exhaust manifold issue.
Ryan Dalziel's time of 1m42.030s put him eighth in the standings.
The GT Le Mans class was led by Giancarlo Fisichella in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia.
His time of 1m44.572s was just over a tenth clear of Antonio Garcia in the fastest of the factory Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs.
Bruno Junqueira wast fastest in the Prototype Challenge one-make division for Paul Gentilozzi's RSR squad, while Kuba Giermaziak topped the GT Daytona times in his GB Autosport Porsche 911 GT Americas.
LEADING PRACTICE TIMES:
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | P | J.Pew, O.Negri, A.Allmendinger, M.McMurry | Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Ligier/HPD | 1m40.877s | - |
2 | P | S.Dixon, T.Kanaan, K.Larson, J.McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates | Riley/Ford | 1m41.204s | 0.327s |
3 | P | J.Barbosa, C.Fittipaldi, S.Bourdais | Action Express Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m41.355s | 0.478s |
4 | P | B.Hartley, R.Barrichello, R.H.-Reay, T.Graves, S.Mayer | Starworks Motorsport | Riley/BMW | 1m41.401s | 0.524s |
5 | P | S.Pruett, J.Hand, C.Kimball, S.Karam | Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates | Riley/Ford | 1m41.567s | 0.690s |
6 | P | T.Krohn, O.Pla, N.Jonsson, A.Brundle | Krohn Racing | Ligier/Judd | 1m41.799s | 0.922s |
7 | P | S.Sharp, R.Dalziel, D.H.Hansson | Tequila Patron ESM | HPD | 1m41.901s | 1.024s |
8 | P | R.Westbrook, M.Valiante, M.Rockenfeller, G.Cosmo | visitflorida.com Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m41.934s | 1.057s |
9 | P | E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, J.Fogarty | Tequila Patron ESM | HPD | 1m42.374s | 1.497s |
10 | P | J.Pace, B.Defoor, D.Hinton, D.Schroeder, D.Smith | Riley/BMW | 1m43.025s | 2.148s |
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