The #31 Whelen Engineering car ran 26 laps, Derani’s best effort of 1min12.387sec coming on his final flyer and it was almost a second faster than the opposition.
That primarily came from Richard Westbrook, for whom this will be a first crack at Long Beach at the wheel of a Prototype. Despite a brief spin at Turn 8 with 15mins to go, causing a red flag, his JDC Miller MotorSports Caddy finished second, just ahead of the impressively steered Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 of Tom Blomqvist, a rookie to both the series and track. The #60 did venture into the runoof at Turn 1 but continued unharmed.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Lynn were almost a second apart in fourth and sixth respectively, split by Ricky Taylor’s best effort in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura.
Three GTD cars beat the best GTD Pro time, with Bill Auberlen – now inducted into the Long Beach Walk of Fame – topping the times in the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 with a 1min19.891sec…
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