NASCAR on TV this week

DragonSpeed’s Nicolas Lapierre Quickest in ELMS Austria Practice No. 1

On Friday morning, DragonSpeed’s Nicolas Lapierre was fastest overall in the first practice session at the Red Bull Ring for the European Le Mans Series.  Lapierre’s lap of 80.588 seconds (119.854 mph) was two-sevenths of a second faster than Nicolas Minassian in the DragonSpeed-run G-Drive Racing No. 22.  Minassian is driving in relief of Ryo Hirakawa, who has other responsibilities this weekend.

GRAFF Racing’s Enzo Guibbert was third quickest, followed by Olivier Pla in the Idec Sport Racing Ligier JS P217.  Andrea Belicchi was fifth quickest in the Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara.

In LMP3, Oregon Team’s Dario Capitanio was quickest overall.  Capitanio made good use of his Norma M30 to turn a lap of 86.376 seconds (111.823 mph), three-tenths of a second faster than United Autosports’ Wayne Boyd.  AT Racing’s Mikkel Jensen was third quickest, followed by the Eurointernational No. 11 of Giorgio Mondini.  360 Racing’s Ross Kaiser was fifth fastest.

Finally, Proton Competition’s Matteo Cairoli, fresh off of a class victory last weekend at the Nürburgring, was fastest in the GTE class.  Cairoli’s lap of 89.728 seconds (107.645 mph) was just a couple of hundredths faster than the Aston Martin of TF Sport’s Nicki Thiim.  AF Corse’s Andrea Bertolini in the No. 51 Ferrari 488 GTE was third fastest, followed by Jonathan Cocker in the JMW Motorsport Ferrari.  Aaron Scott was fifth fastest in the Spirit of Race Ferrari.

Results of European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Red Bull Racing Free Practice No. 1

The European Le Mans Series teams have one more free practice session Saturday morning at 9:25 a.m. local time (3:25 a.m. Eastern).  It will be 90 minutes in length

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.

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