Acura’s Tom Blomqvist set the pace in the first practice session for the Daytona 24 Hours, the season opener for the 2026 IMSA Sportscar Championship.
The Briton lapped the circuit in 1:35.415 in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura, which completed 20 laps of the track in the 1h30m session.
Second was Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche, just over a tenth off Blomqvist. Third was Estre’s Porsche teammate Felipe Nasr in the sister #7 Porsche, a further 0.014 off Estre.
Fourth was Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, while Dries Vanthoor was fifth in the #24 BMW.
Renger van der Zande was sixth in the #93 MSR Acura, while young Chilean Nico Pino was seventh in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche.
Eighth was Jack Aitken inb the #31 Action Express Cadillac, while another Cadillac, the other Wayne Taylor Racing-run car, was ninth, the #40 with Louis Deletraz at the wheel.
Ross Gunn was 10th in the #23 Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie, while the #25 BMW had a hybrid issue throughout the session and did not set a competitive lap.
Nick Cassidy led LMP2, with a 1:39.764 in the #343 Inter Europol Oreca. Alex Quinn was second in the #4 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca, over 3 and a half tenths away from new Peugeot WEC factory driver Cassidy.
Pietro Fittipaldi was third, onboard the #73 Pratt Miller Oreca, almost two tenths off Quinn and more than half a second adrift of Cassidy.
The GTD-entered #19 van der Steur Aston Martin Vantage GT3 was quickest in the GTD Pro-GTD classes, with Carl Bennett at the wheel. He set a 1:46.325 to go quickest, just 0.023 ahead of the fastest GTD Pro car, the #033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera.
Dean MacDonald was next up, in the #59 RLL McLaren 720s GT3, entered in GTD Pro, 0.022 off Rovera.
Second in GTD and fourth in both classes was Antonio Fuoco in the other #021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari, 0.020 off MacDonald. Third in class was Nicki Thiim in the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Third in GTD Pro, seventh in the combined classes, was Fred Vervisch in the #65 Ford Mustang GT3, under three tenths slower than MacDonald, ahead of him in class.
Qualifying begins at 14:10 ET local time, 19:10 UK time, with the GTD cars. See the full practice session results on IMSA’s website.
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