Cadillac led all three practice sessions today at Daytona International Speedway. While the Chip Ganassi-run #01 Cadillac Racing car led Practice 1 and 2, tonight it was the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac run by Action Express Racing that finished with the fastest time in Practice 3.
Pipo Derani, the Role 24 polesitter and new track record holder, jumped to the top of the board after 30 minutes and led Practice 3 with a best lap time of 1:35.708 aboard the red #31 Caddy.
Tonight’s 90-minute session was a relatively low-key affair but there was one red flag that disrupted the action.
15 minutes into the session, the #74 Riley ORECA LMP2 07 of Josh Burdon stopped at Speedway Turn Two with a puncture. Burdon had spun out at high speed heading into turn one just seconds prior to coming to a stop.
Fortunately, team-mate Gar Robinson was able to complete the three required laps under night time that he needed to be certified to race at night during the race.
Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 finished with the second-best time, 1:36.018. At the flag, Sébastien Bourdais jumped to third aboard the #01 Cadillac.
The two BMW M Hybrid V8s from BMW Team RLL finished fourth and fifth. Connor de Phillippi put in a late flyer to go up to fourth in the #25, ahead of the best from Dries Vanthoor in the #24.
IndyCar star Colton Herta finished the session sixth in the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.
In LMP2, it was Peugeot prospect Malthe Jakobsen in the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA who not only finished fastest in Practice 3, but with the fastest time of Thursday, setting a 1:39.166.
Jakobsen took the top time from his co-driver Toby Sowery who paced Practice 1 in the morning.
Pato O’Ward was second in class in the purple #2 United Autosports ORECA, followed by Christian Rasmussen in the #18 Era Motorsport ORECA, then Ferdinand Habsburg in the #8 Tower Motorsports ORECA. Jonny Edgar’s best time in the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier JS P217 would be good enough for eighth in class.
There was good news from the Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller Motorsports camps: Both cars made it out for significant track time for the first time all day, including the #3 car that had spent most of the day in the garage.
Even better, they’d finished first and second in GTD Pro. Earl Bamber set the best time in the #4 ‘Vette, of 1:46.770 – while Alex Sims in the #3 was less than a tenth back of the sister car.
Future Lamborghini SC63 driver Matteo Cairoli went third-fastest in the yellow #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, and Harry Tincknell was fourth in the #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3.
Two cars in GTD Pro did not go out for night-time practice: The #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, and the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.
Over in GTD, the red and yellow #86 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R led for the second consecutive session. Larry ten Voorde was the pacesetter this time with a best lap of 1:47.075.
Danny Formal was just 0.022s back in second riding the #45 WTRAndretti Lamborghini. Eddie Cheever III finished third in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, the top four was completed by Tom Gamble in the #70 Inception Racing McLaren.
Final practice for the 62nd annual Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, one hour in length, begins tomorrow at 11:20 AM EST (local time).
Images © Jake Galstad / IMSA, Corvette Racing
