It was fairly important for the American Le Mans Series to have a morning warmup session in advance of Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. All of Friday’s on-track time was spent in the rain but Saturday has arrived with hotter and more humid temperatures. Teams started with a green track devoid of much rubber laid down from Friday’s sessions.

Immediately the times tumbled, with overall pole sitter David Brabham setting the fastest time at 50.700. Jonny Cocker in the Drayson Racing Lola Judd Coupe was just a fraction off at 50.735.

BMW set the fastest two times in GT, but they have the challenge of starting from the back of the intensely competitive GT class field in ninth and 13th in class (18th and 25th overall). The top eight in class were separated by 0.976 of a second. The polesitting No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche was third, followed by the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, Nos. 4 and 3 Corvettes, No. 61 Risi Ferrari and No. 01 Extreme Speed Ferrari.

And the traffic levels here are equivalent to even more than 30 cars at other circuits. Radio Le Mans’ coverage with lead announcer John Hindhaugh on the microphone revealed some staggering numbers – 30 cars at Lime Rock is the same traffic density as 50 cars at the Indianapolis 500 or, get this, 156 cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans! For comparison’s sake, there were 168 drivers in this year’s 24-hour race spread 3 apiece in each of the 56 cars.