The #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R ran fastest in the fourth and final final practice session ahead of the weekend’s Rolex 24 Hours. Early in the session the #01 Cadillac say atop the times, but Jack Aitken would continue the #31’s session-topping form from last night to go top with a 1:35.983 halfway through the hour-long run.
Splitting the two Cadillacs by the end of the session was the #25 BMW Team RLL M Hybrid V8, after Connor De Phillippi set a 1:36.222. The #01 Cadillac ended up third.
Outside the top three, the four Porsche 963s occupied fourth to seventh in the running oder, with the #85 JDC-Miller example setting the best time of the four courtesy of Richard Westbrook. His time, a 1:36.816, was 0.685 off the #31’s time.
The two WTRAndretti Acuras, which have failed to show notable outright pace so far since arriving in Daytona, ended up eighth and ninth, the two cars 1.9 and 2.3 seconds off.
In LMP2 the #11 TDS Racing ORECA topped the times. Mikkel Jensen set an early 1:39.078 flyer, which was quicker than the slowest of the GTP runners, the #24 BMW. The #88 AF Corse and the #18 Era ORECA 07s completed the top three.
Further down the order, it was a tough session for Sean Creech Motorsports and its Ligier JS P217. Lance Willsey suffered a hard impact to the pit exit wall at the exit of Turn 1 with 14 minutes remaining in the session. The incident brought out a brief red flag period while the marshals loaded the car onto a flatbed. The extent of the damage is not yet know.
GTD meanwhile, saw the #43 Andretti Porsche 911 GT3 R 992 top the times, Thomas Preining setting a 1:47.072. That lap was faster than the entire GTD Pro field, which was led by the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan, which would end up within two tenths after a 1:47.239 from Matteo Cairoli.
The Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 would slot in third in the combined GTD standings and second in Pro. Daniel Serra set the car’s fastest lap, a 1:47.386, just before grinding to a halt briefly at the Bus Stop. He was able to get going again and returned to the pit lane under his own power.
Seven cars didn’t set times in the session. Three headed out for installation laps, the other four – both of the new Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3s and the two AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs – didn’t leave the pit lane. Corvette confirmed to DSC that AWA planned to sit it out in order to save its cars for the race.
