GTP
In Free Practice 1, with one hour to go, Westbrook and Scott Dixon occupied the first two positions with the Cadillac V-LMDh #02 and #01 of Chip Ganassi Racing, ahead of that of Jack Aitken (Action Express Racing).
Good news for the Porsche 963s, both in action this session, with Matthieu Jaminet in the #6 car narrowly ahead of Matt Campbell’s #7, which in turn was a thousandth quicker than Brendon Hartley in the Wayne Taylor Racing’s Acura ARX-06.
Nick Yelloly set a best lap 0.726s from the leader in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, which had lost most of the morning session. The last red flag (caused by an LMP3 car) affected the reserved part of the session at the GTP/GTD Pro, but eight cars took to the track, the only one not to do so was the #24 BMW, which only completed nine laps due to a faulty fire extinguisher.
Renger Van Der Zande reduced his deficit to teammate Westbrook’s time to 0.242s, which seemed enough to earn second place, but then Louis Deletraz in Wayne Taylor’s Acura edged him by 4 cents.
Pipo Derani with the Cadillac AXR improved his time to 0″28 from Westbrook.
Nasr and Jaminet put the Porsches within 0.4 seconds, followed by Colin Braun and Yelloly.
In Free Practice 2 Campbell’s #7 Porsche 963, managed by Penske, was the first to break the 1’36” barrier, lapping in 1’35″802″ after 20 minutes and overtaking the Cadillacs of Alex Lynn and Alexander Sims over 0″4. Ricky Taylor improved with Acura, but stopped at 0.33.
His teammate Albuquerque reduced the deficit to 0.172 with half an hour to go, edging the Cadillacs of Ganassi and Action Express Racing.
Colton Herta drove the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 just 0.66s off the lead, ahead of the second Porsche, Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura and the #24 BMW with the fewest laps.
#7 Team Penske Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, Michael Christensen
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
LMP2
In Free Practice 1, Nicolas Lapierre lapped in 1’38″615, with a 0″7 lead over AF Corse’s Matthieu Vaxiviere, about a tenth faster than TDS Racing’s Scott Huffaker and Job van Uitert.
Van Uitert reduced the gap to Lapierre to 0.42 seconds before handing over the #35 car to Josh Pierson, while Christian Rasmussen brought the Era Motorsport car into third place ahead of Huffaker.
Francesco Pizzi hit the Proton Competition car just before the 45-minute mark of the LMP2 session, triggering the second red flag, 10 minutes after the first.
In FP2, Oliver Jarvis (Era Motorsport) and Rinus VeeKay in the #11 TDS Racing car were the first to lead the way, but after the first red flag, Ben Hanley (Crowdstrike Racing by APR) jumped into the lead with a of 1’38″801.
Subsequently, Alex Quinn in the PR1/Mathiasen reduced the limit, followed by Hanley then, while the Tower Motorsport car with Scott McLaughlin on it remained 0.3 behind.
Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #88 AF Corse car moved up to fourth in the closing stages of the session and then edged McLaughlin by just four hundredths, but found a good enough lap to take first place by 0.139s.
Mikkel Jensen bettered the #11 TDS car’s time in the closing stages, but remained sixth.
#18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07: Ryan Dalziel, Christian Rasmussen, Oliver Jarvis, Dwight Merriman
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
lmp3
The Riley Motorsports Ligier ridden by Glenn Van Berlo was the first to lead the way in FP1, 0.15s faster than Lars Kern’s best performance in the #13 AWA Duqueine and Antonio Serravalle (FastMD Racing).
Till Bechtolsheimer caused the first red flag when his JDC Miller designer Duqueine stalled in turn 2, and Orey Fidani caused another when he stepped on the AWA.
Unfortunately, when the action resumed, Nolan Siegel stopped the Ligier of Sean Creech Motorsport at turn 6 due to a fluid leak, triggering the stop again. However, Nico Varrone managed to bring the other AWA car into second position, three tenths behind Fraga and a few hundredths behind his teammate Bell.
In Free Practice 2, Rasmus Lindh in the Andretti Autosport Ligier lapped in 1’42″559 with less than 25 minutes to go, 0″325 ahead of Wayne Boyd in the Duqueine-AWA #17, while Matthew Bell’s other AWA it is third.
#36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320: Jarett Andretti, Gabby Chaves, Dakota Dickerson, Rasmus Lindh
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
GTD Pro e GTD
FP1 saw the NTE Sport Lamborghini Huracan #42 with Kerong Li on top of it suffering damage to the front right in a tire impact at turn 7 after an hour, forcing him to return to the pits with difficulty. It was a particularly unfortunate situation as Jaden Conwright had driven the car to third place in GTD and fourth overall in GT3.
Mikael Grenier was the fastest of the GTD drivers after one hour, driving the Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 in 1’46″282, 0″136 ahead of Ryan Briscoe in the Racers Edge/WTR/ Acura NSX YY. Daniel Juncadella was 0.2″ behind with Mercedes-WeatherTech Racing, leading the GTD Pro category.
When the green light went off after Li’s crash, Kenny Habul led Mercedes-SunEnergy1 Racing to third place among the GTD drivers, while just before the end of the GTD part of the session, Jules Gounon improved Mercedes- WeatherTech Racing GTD Pro climbing to 0″12 from Grenier’s best time on Korthoff’s GTD car.
The second and fifth times in GTD Pro were achieved by just ninth to twelfth overall among the GT3s, with Alex Riberas second in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage, ahead of Jordan Taylor in the Corvette C8.R.
#32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3: Mike Skeen, Mikael Grenier, Kenton Koch, Maximilian Goetz
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
In FP2, the new Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 caused the first red flag when it went out at turn 5 in the hands of Roberto Lacorte.
By mid-session, Juncadella was leading the GTD Pro standings, until Frederik Schandorff in the Inception Racing McLaren 720S lowered his time by just 0.003s.
Parker Thompson in the Lexus RC F GTD remained in the same tenth, ahead of Luca Stolz (Mercedes-SunEnergy1) and Danny Formal in the Racers Edge Acura NSX.
Grenier took the lead of the GTD by 0″002, then beaten by Gounon before he got back in front. Maro Engel with the AMG-WeatherTech reduced the gap to less than 0″2 seconds, to then finish leading the standings with a time of 1’46″011, having also completed the most laps (48) of all the GT3s.
Mario Farnbacher put in a strong performance for Gradient Racing in his Acura NSX finishing within 0.4 seconds of Grenier, outpacing the two Lexus of Vasser Sullivan in the hands of Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth.
As usual, Spencer Pumpelly did a great job to take the Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage to fifth place in GTD and seventh overall.
IMSA – 24h of Daytona: Free Practice 2
IMSA – 24h of Daytona: Free Practice 3
