Risi's Ferrari F458 suffered an accident with the No. 55 BMW in Friday morning practice at Lime Rock. Photo credit: Rick Dole for Michelin North America

The two-and-a-half month break for the American Le Mans Series season comes to a close this weekend at Lime Rock Park, with the first practice session on Friday officially ending the hiatus in earnest.

Lucas Luhr set the fastest time overall in the Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing Lola Aston Martin at 47.328 seconds around the 1.474-mile road circuit. Dyson Racing’s pair of Lola Mazda coupes were within a second, the No. 16 ahead of the No. 20 at 47.425 and 48.106 seconds, respectively. Chris Dyson and Steven Kane set the quickest times.

A pair of exciting drivers, Jon Field and Gunnar Jeannette, led the LMPC category at 49.747 and 49.970 seconds. Field is returning to the ALMS this weekend in a second Intersport Racing entry while Jeannette seeks a repeat of his class win here in 2010; Jeannette now co-drives the No. 06 CORE autosport car with Ricardo Gonzalez.

In GT, Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s pair of BMW M3s set the pace at 51.330 and 51.553, the No. 56 of Dirk Mueller ahead of the No. 55 of Bill Auberlen. Risi Ferrari, the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche and Nos. 4 and 3 Corvettes completed the top six in class.

The only incident involved two of the leading GT contenders, the Risi Ferrari and No. 55 BMW. Toni Vilander cut across Auberlen’s right front at turn four, which sent both cars into the grass. The BMW had minimal right front damage, but the Ferrari ended up against the fence with a broken left rear wheel.