Brendon Hartley, Bill Auberlen and Joel Miller led their respective classes in Saturday’s final Rolex Series practice.
Hartley led all DP competitors with a lap of 1:22.280 in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport BMW/Riley, followed by defending race winner Richard Westbrook and Dane Cameron.
Bill Auberlen paced GT with a lap of 1:28.293 in the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 after leading the opening practice. He also led both of Saturday’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge sessions. Patrick Long was second, followed by John Edwards.
Joel Miller led GX, 1:34.125, in the No. 00 Visit Florida Mazda 6. He was followed by Sylvain Tremblay and Jeff Mosing, debuting the SDR Lotus Evora in its first Rolex Series appearance.
In the Trueman-Akin portion of the session, John Pew led the DP competitors, while Kyle Marcelli led GT and Scott Dollahite led GX.
Negri Tops Gurney To Lead Opening Practice At Mazda Raceway
Ozz Negri and Michael Shank Racing set the pace in opening Rolex Series practice at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Negri ran a lap of 1:23.026 in the No. 60 Aero Ford/Riley to lead the session with Alex Gurney second in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP, 1:23.050. Scott Pruett was third with a lap of 1:23.135, but the No. 01 Telcel/Telmex BMW/Riley pit with an engine issue later in the session and the team is working on an engine change.
Bill Auberlen and Turner Motorsport seem to have things figured this weekend at Mazda Raceway. After setting the fastest time in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge practice earlier in the morning, Auberlen was again fastest in GT with a lap of 1:28.078 in the team’s No. 94 BMW M3. Three manufacturers made up the top three spots in GT with Jeff Segal second in the No. 61 Ferrari of Ontario/RemoFerriGroup.com Ferrari 458, 1:28.417, and Eric Curran third in Marsh Racing’s No. 31 Corvette, 1:28.613.
In the GX class Sylvain Tremblay’s lap of 1:33.907 in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/Mazda/Castrol Mazda 6 was narrowly quicker than Jim Norman’s 1:33.973 in the No. 38 Calcium Pro/RSS Components Porsche Cayman. The Rolex Series is next on track at 2:20 p.m. PT.
