The first practice for the 61st annual Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona finished after four red flags and stoppages throughout the session, including a significant incident involving Winward Racing driver Lucas Auer.
Filipe Albuquerque finished with the fastest time overall and in GTP, setting a 1’35.366 aboard his black and blue #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06.
Earl Bamber was second-fastest in the #02 Cadillac Racing V-LMDh, on a 1’35.632.
Acuras and Cadillacs alternated the top four positions in the overall running order with Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura third, and Renger van der Zande fourth in the #01 Cadillac Racing V-LMDh.
Mathieu Jaminet was fifth-quickest in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963, but its sister car, the #7, was hampered by brake issues and was unable to set a representative time.
Also hampered with issues was the #25 BMW Team RLL M V8 Hybrid, which was only 15th overall after it too was plagued with mechanical issues throughout the session.
LMP2 was led by the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07-Gibson, driven by Paul-Loup Chatin, who set a best time of 1’38.302 – ninth overall. That was just under three-tenths up on the best time set by Oliver Jarvis aboard the #18 ERA Motorsport Oreca in second, followed by Mikkel Jensen in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca in third.
Felipe Fraga was fastest in LMP3, setting a 1’42.704 aboard the #74 Riley Ligier JS P320. Gabby Chaves was less than a tenth back in the #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier, followed by João Barbosa in the #33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier in third. The fastest Duquiene D08 was the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports entry in fifth, its fastest time set by Tijmen van der Helm, under six-tenths behind Fraga’s benchmark.
Auer in the pole-setting #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 had set the fastest time in GTD, with a time of 1’46.763. But seconds later, Auer crashed head-on into the concrete wall on the left hand side of turn two, after dropping two wheels off into the grass exiting the preceding corner with 25 minutes left in the session.
The AMR Safety Team immediately came to the scene to assist Auer and carefully extract him from his heavily damaged vehicle. Photographs of the wrecked car show clearly that the extraction involved the use of both the FIA-mandated roof hatch and, it seems, cutting the car’s safety cage.
Auer, 28, was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. We will provide more on his condition as it becomes available.
Owen Trinkler was quickest in GTD Pro, a surprise aboard the #64 TGM/TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 with its all-Bronze and Silver crew. His best time was a 1’47.010. Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 was second-quickest in class, then Ross Gunn was third in the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin.
Antonio Garcia was fourth-quickest in GTD Pro in the #3 Corvette Racing C8.R, then Andrea Caldarelli was fifth in the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 – despite the green #63 Lambo stopping twice during the session, one of which resulted in a red flag during the first half of the session.
There was very limited running in the session for the #79 Weathertech AMG.
In GTD, Aaron Telitz had the second-fastest time in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, and Spencer Pumpelly was third in the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin.
The #92 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R brought out the first red flag just minutes into the session when it stopped near pit entry. The #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini stopped at turn three to bring out the second red flag.
A third red flag was shown when John DeAngelis spun his #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier LMP3 in the Le Mans Chicane and found himself facing the wrong way.
Before that, there had been trouble for the #78 US Racetronics Lamborghini with the car running off course at the Le Mans chicane before returning to the circuit under local yellows.
Auer’s incident brought out the fourth and final red flag of the session. Practice ultimately resumed with less than five minutes left on the clock, but no team or driver made significant improvements on their previous times.
