Tristan Vautier has topped opening practice for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic in Detroit by posting a late flyer to unseat Ricky Taylor at the top of the timing sheets.
Taylor looked to be set to end the session quickest, until Vautier posted a 01:21:684 in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-VR to go quickest overall
Vautier’s best effort was just 0.096s faster than Taylor’s #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05.
Kevin Magnussen was third fastest in the #01 Chip Ganassi Cadillac DPi-VR, with Pipo Derani fourth for Whelen Engineering.
The DPi category was rounded out by Harry Tincknell’s #55 Mazda RT24-P and the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 of Dane Cameron.
Top honours in GTD went to Mario Farnbacher in the #76 Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo, who posted a 01:30:932 to outpace the #39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo of Richard Heistand by just over three-tenths of a second.
Jack Hawksworth was third for Vasser Sullivan Racing, with Bryan Sellers fourth for Paul Miller Racing.
Sellers brought out a late red flag when the #1 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo came to a halt out on track.
The top six in class was completed by the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 of Robby Foley and Katherine Legge’s #88 Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R.
The two Corvette C8.Rs also ran on track, but are taking part this weekend in a non-points scoring exhibition round. Nick Tandy went fastest of the two in the #4 Corvette C8.R, as his best time of 01:28:980 was 0.227s faster than that of team-mate Antonio Garcia.
