The #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R went fastest in Saturday night’s two-hour test session (Session 5) at Daytona International Speedway – via guest star Alex Palou.
Palou, the two-time and reigning IndyCar Series champion, set a best lap time of 1:35.705 in the gold Caddy. All four manufacturers found themselves in the top four in GTP.
Connor de Phillippi went second in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, followed by Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 – this despite a wheel coming off the car along the way. Filipe Albuquerque rounded out that top four in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.
Saturday’s action saw a new leader in LMP2, where Scott Huffaker set the fastest time in class so far, at 1:38.270 aboard the #20 MDK by High Class Racing Oreca 07.
Pfaff Motorsports missed a chunk of Session 4 after accidentally sending their car out with a safety cover still attached to the radiator of their #9 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, which caused the car to stop on track.
They made up for that lost time as Marvin Kirchhöfer set the fastest time in GTD Pro, at 1:45.980. Dirk Müller went second-fastest in class in the #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3.
A few cars completed successful testing programmes following engine changes, while the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 underwent an engine change of its own and only completed two shakedown laps.
Eddie Cheever III led GTD in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, setting a 1:45.739, which was the new best time of testing in the class thus far.
Qualifying for the 62nd annual Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona begins at 1:55 PM EST (local time), preceded immediately by a sixth and final test session exclusive to GTP cars.
Images © Jake Galstad, Richard Dole / IMSA
