Afternoon Delight for No. 01 Cadillac in Motul Petit Le Mans Practice

The fastest lap of the first three hours of practice for the race that will decide the championship went to a team that isn’t involved in the battle but has a point to make nonetheless.

Sebastien Bourdais’ late lap was the fastest Thursday during the second of two daytime practice sessions in preparation for the 25th Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. A third 90-minute session was slated for Thursday night.

Driving the No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R he shares with Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon this weekend, Bourdais was clocked at 1 minute, 9.040 seconds (132.444 mph) around the 12-turn, 2.54-mile circuit.

That led to a discussion in the pits among the three drivers about how their Cadillac handled as Bourdais prepares to qualify the car Friday and van der Zande gets ready for the closing stint of Saturday’s 10-hour race.

The No. 01 Cadillac won at Long Beach, Detroit and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this season but enters Petit trailing the leaders by 152 points.

“We wanted to go out for the championship, but we had too many problems and took ourselves out of the championship hunt, which really is a shame,” Bourdais said. “This car has been fast and should have been a contender for the championship.”

Instead, the championship is down to two Acuras. The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 co-driven by Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Brendon Hartley leads the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-05 shared by Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Helio Castroneves by 19 points.