Kamui Kobayashi has topped the opening session for the 2021 Roar Before the 24, setting the quickest time in his Action Express-entered Cadillac.
The Japanese ace posted a 01:35:312 behind the wheel of the #48 Cadillac DPi-VR, which he shared with Jimmie Johnson, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Rockenfeller under the Ally Cadillac Racing banner.
That time was 0.385s faster than that set by Ricky Taylor in the new #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura-ARX 05. He was less then two-tenths quicker than the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac of Felipe Nasr, with Renger van der Zande fourth for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Jonathan Bomarito was fifth for Mazda Motorsports, ahead of JDC Miller Motorsports’ Tristan Vautier. Olivier Pla rounded out the class in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
Nicolas Lapierre set the pace in LMP2 as he set a 1:37.741 in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07-Gibson, ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg for High Class Racing and Gabriel Aubry for Tower Motorsport.
The #82 DragonSpeed ORECA 07-Gibson had limited running and only completed three laps, while newcomers Racing Team Nederland failed to set a time as their #29 ORECA 07-Gibson was late to arrive at Daytona International Speedway.
Laurents Hoerr had the distinction of topping the first ever LMP3 session in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship as he set a 1:43.655 behind the wheel of the #6 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine M30-D08.
Hoerr was just 0.087s faster than Scott Andrews in the #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320, while the #33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier rounded out the top three in the hands of Wayne Boyd.
James Calado led proceedings in GTLM as the Briton posted a 1:43.680 behind the wheel of the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.
He outpaced reigning champion Jordan Taylor in the #3 Corvette C8.R by 0.387s, with Philipp Eng third in the #25 BMW M8 GTE. Augusto Farfus made it two BMWs in the top four, while the top five was rounded out by the #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 driven by Richard Lietz.
Christina Nielsen led the first session in GTD upon her return to IMSA as she set a 1:46.194 in the #88 Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Nielsen led AF Corse’s Matteo Cressoni, Winward Racing’s Maro Engel and SunEnergy1 Racing’s Luca Stolz, while Patrick Long completed the top five for Wright Motorsports.
