Laurens Vanthoor put Porsche Penske Motorsport on top to close out the second night of the Roar Before The 24 at Daytona International Speedway with a late flying lap that took the reigning Rolex 24 At Daytona winner to the top of the GTP leaderboard.
In preparation for the nighttime racing to come next week during the 64th Rolex 24, fast laps weren’t the focus of the two-hour night session. But of note, the ten cars in GTP that recorded times were only separated by 0.343 seconds.
With under ten minutes left, Vanthoor set a 1:37.239 in his #6 Penske Porsche 963, jumping him ahead of Colton Herta’s best time of 1:37.342 in the #40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R
In third was Will Stevens in the #10 WTR Cadillac, who set a 1:37.493s – and Nico Pino was an impressive fourth in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche.
The alternating order of Cadillac and Porsche continued as Frederik Vesti went fifth-fastest in the #31 Whelen Cadillac, and Laurin Heinrich went sixth in the #7 Penske Porsche.
Dries Vanthoor led the BMW M Team WRT contingent in the #24, and Nick Yelloly in the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 led his manufacturer in eighth.
Only the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie didn’t post a time after spending most of the day in the garage undergoing a precautionary engine change.
Mikkel Jensen in the #2 United Autosports USA ORECA 07-Gibson led LMP2 with a 1:39.770.
Nolan Siegel went second-fastest in the #343 Inter Europol Competition ORECA. The one-off Inter Europol entry finished ahead of the full-time #43 car, with António Félix da Costa setting its top time.
75 Express and star driver Will Power continues to lead the way in GTD PRO, setting a 1:47.673 to lead the class aboard the #75 Mercedes-AMG GT3.
It’s a Mercedes-AMG 1-2 in GTD PRO with Fabian Schiller putting the #69 GetSpeed car up into second place.
And despite spending a significant portion of the evening sidelined with an anti-lock brake system problem, the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 was able to flash some pace as Mirko Bortolotti went up to third late.
Likewise in GTD, Myers Riley Motorsports’ #16 Ford Mustang GT3 Evo was quickest, courtesy of a 1:47.733 from Felipe Fraga.
In second was Indy Dontje in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, once again, trailed by Casper Stevenson, who was third-fastest in the #81 DragonSpeed Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
The Roar Before The 24 concludes tomorrow with two sessions, the first of which starts at 9:45 AM ET.
Images © IMSA
