Under the lights at Daytona International Speedway, third practice, night practice, has concluded for the 61st Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
In three practice sessions on Thursday, three different manufacturers led overall and in the GTP class: Acura in the first session, Cadillac in the second session, and now Porsche in the third.
Fifteen minutes into practice, Matt Campbell set the fastest lap – a 1’35.802 aboard the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963. The #7 Porsche did spend nearly 20 minutes in the garage during the second half of this practice but was able to return to the track as the one hour, the 45-minute session began to wind down.
All nine GTP cars were able to complete a full session with no major issues.
The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 was second-fastest, courtesy of two-time overall winner Filipe Albuquerque setting a 1’35.974.
The leading Porsche and Acura were followed by the trio of Cadillac V-LMDh prototypes in the practice order. Heading that trio was the blue #02 Cadillac Racing entry operated by Chip Ganassi Racing, which turned a session-high 54 laps and had the fastest outright time of the day. Alex Lynn set that car’s fastest time in night practice, ahead of teammate Sebastien Bourdais in the yellow #01 Cadillac. The Action Express-run #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac, piloted by Alexander Sims, was fifth-fastest.
The #25 BMW Team RLL M Hybrid V8 was sixth-fastest. IndyCar Series star and F1 aspirant Colton Herta set that car’s fastest time, ahead of the #6 Penske Porsche, driven by Nick Tandy.
Simon Pagenaud was eighth-fastest in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura, followed by Marco Wittmann in the #24 BMW in ninth, which completed 27 laps. The spread of the field from first to last was 1.3 seconds.
PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports nearly led every practice in LMP2, but with minutes to go in night practice the fastest time belonged to the #88 AF Corse Oreca 07-Gibson. Matthieu Vaxiviere set a best time of 1’38.416, just over a tenth up on the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca – driven by Alex Quinn to its fastest lap in second place.
Ben Hanley was third-fastest in the #04 CrowdStrike Racing with APR Oreca, followed by Australian Supercars champion and IndyCar race winner Scott McLaughlin in the #8 Tower Motorsport Oreca.
Nearly half the session elapsed before the #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 was able to turn a lap but they were able to not only get back out on track but also lead LMP3. Rasmus Lindh recorded its quickest time, at a 1’42.559.
He was followed by the two AWA Duquiene D08s, the #17 of Wayne Boyd, ahead of the #13 of Matt Bell.
In all three sessions, a customer Mercedes-AMG GT3 was the fastest GTD car across all classes. For the second time, they swept GTD Pro and GTD “Non-Pro.”
But for the first time, it was a GTD Pro car that was quicker than their Pro-Am counterparts: With fifteen minutes to go, Maro Engel in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes set a lap of 1’46.011, to displace the #32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes of Mikaël Grenier from the overall GTD top spot with his best lap of 1’46.177.
Engel was quickest in GTD Pro by over half a second, ahead of Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3. For the first time the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 featured near the front, Mirko Bortolotti went third-quickest in the session.
Tommy Milner went fourth-quickest aboard the #3 Corvette Racing C8.R, then Matt Plumb in the #64 TGM/TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 was fifth. Of note, the #9 Pfaff Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R, one of several new Porsche GTDs struggling with their BoP settings, only set two laps, none of them at speed.
Things were closer near the top of GTD “Classic” with Grenier leading for the second consecutive session. Five different makes were in the top five: The #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 was second-fastest in the hands of Frederik Schandorff. Parker Thompson went third-fastest in the sister Vasser Sullivan #12 Lexus. Two-time IMSA GTD champion Mario Farnbacher was fourth on the board in the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, then Spencer Pumpelly in the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin was fifth.
All seven of Porsche’s customer GTD teams occupied the bottom eight of all teams that set a time in the session.
Along with the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, written off after Lucas Auer’s severe accident in the morning session, three other cars failed to post any lap times in night practice.
These included the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier, the provisional LMP3 pole sitters, who lost an engine in the afternoon practice. Lance Willsey, who needed to run three flying laps in this session in order to run at night during the race itself, was unable to participate.
This also includes the #55 Proton Competition Oreca 07-Gibson, following Francesco Pizzi’s accident in the afternoon session. Both Pizzi and gentleman driver Fred Poordad were thus, unable to run during night practice.
After Kerong Li’s accident in the same session, the #42 NTE Sport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 was too damaged to take part – and Li, Don Yount, and Alessio Deledda were unable to set any laps in night practice.
Only one significant incident during the session involved Roberto Lacorte in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, Lacorte went off at the International Horseshoe (turn five) and hit the tyre barriers, damaging the left front bodywork.
