American Le Mans Series

Zytek Quickest in Night Practice

After posting one lap this morning and only 12 in the afternoon, the No. 15 Zytek Engineering 04S rocketed to the top of the speed chart in night practice Thursday for Petit Le Mans.

©Dennis Murray/Planetlemans.com

The car of Hayanari Shimoda and Tom Chilton toured Road Atlanta’s 12-turn, 2.54-mile circuit in 1:12.570, the best time in either of the three practice sessions for Round 9 of the American Le Mans Series. The car debuted in the ALMS at Mid-Ohio in May, starting on the pole before suffering a variety of problems and finishing fourth.

“I love the track, and it’s even better in the dark,” Chilton said. “I’ve got in about 10 laps or so in this afternoon and I’ve just gotten some more. Coming through 10A and 10B and then under the bridge is quite exciting at night. You can’t the see the track for a second and then, boom, it’s over the edge.”

The European entry was 0.603 seconds better than the No. 2 Champion Racing Audi R8 of Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro, the LMP1 drivers championship leaders. Next was Champion’s other Audi, the No. 1 R8 of Marco Werner and JJ Lehto.

The No. 37 Intersport Racing Lola B05/40 of Jon Field, Clint Field and Liz Halliday was the class of P2, thanks to Jon Field’s 1:14.053 lap. Next was the Barazi-Kruse Motorsport Courage of Phil Bennett, Juan Barazi and Elton Julian at 1:16.447. Third was the class-leading Miracle Motorsports Courage of Jeff Bucknum, Chris McMurry and James Gue.

For the third time in four sessions, Corvette Racing’s No. 4 Corvette C6-R of Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen was the quickest car in class at 1:17.835. That was a tick faster than the No. 58 Aston Martin Racing DBR9 of Peter Kox, Pedro Lamy and Tomas Enge. ACEMCO Motorsports’ No. 63 Saleen S7R held strong in third at 1:18.399.

Also in class, Aston Martin also reported that its No. 57 DBR9 was fully repaired and ready to go for Friday morning’s practice session and the afternoon’s qualifying.

Panoz Motor Sports’ No. 50 Panoz Esperante GTLM, which won the Grand Prix of Atlanta in April, was quickest in GT2 Thursday night. The entry of Bill Auberlen, Robin Liddell and Scott Maxwell went around the track in 1:23.114, 0.381 seconds better than the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche. Next was the class championship leading No. 31 Porsche from Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing.

Petit Le Mans is the ninth round of the American Le Mans Series. The annual 1,000-mile/10-hour race is scheduled for 11:20 a.m. EDT Saturday at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. SPEED Channel will provide live television coverage. Qualifying is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. EDT Friday. American Le Mans Series Radio, and IMSA Living and Timing Scoring will be available at www.americanlemans.com.