American Le Mans Series

Zytek Fastest in Thursday Practices

Two of the American Le Mans Series’ newest entries stole the show during practice Thursday for the season-ending Monterey Sports Car Championships.

The No. 15 Zytek 04S of Hayanari Shimoda and Tom Chilton posted the day’s fastest time with a 1:16.605 during a one-hour nighttime practice session at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The Zytek, which sat on the pole at Mid-Ohio and Petit Le Mans, was about 0.3 seconds better than the day’s next best time, a 1:16.929 by the No. 2 Champion Racing Audi R8 of LMP1 drivers champions Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. That time was the best of the afternoon test session.

Next was the No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola of Butch Leitzinger and James Weaver at 1:17.027, also posted during the day.

To no one’s surprise, Penske Motorsports’ No. 6 Porsche RS Spyder got down to business at dusk. Lucas Luhr posted the fastest LMP2 lap of the day in the night practice, a 1:17.763 that put the new car third overall in the evening session.

The second-best time of the day came from the No. 7 Intersport Racing Lola B05/40 of Clint Field, Jon Field and Liz Halliday. The car turned in a time of 1:18.329 in the afternoon session, giving a hint as to how tight of a battle the P2 race could be come Saturday.

In GT1, Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Corvette C6-R of Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell was quickest in both sessions. The best time was a 1:22.212 in the evening, followed closely by the championship-leading No. 4 sister car of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin. That car went around in 1:22.545, also in the evening.

The third-fastest GT1 time was the No. 63 ACEMCO Motorsports Saleen S7R of Terry Borcheller and Johnny Mowlem at 1:22.627.

The No. 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche, desperate to keep its class championship hopes alive, started the weekend off well with a class-best lap of 1:26.751. About 0.1 seconds back of Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard was the No. 31 Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing Porsche of championship leaders Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long.

Third on Thursday was the No. 43 BAM! Porsche of Mike Rockenfeller and Wolf Henzler, which posted a time of 1:27.131 during the afternoon session.