Alex Plaou set the benchmark in the #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R during the fifth Daytona practice session, setting a 1:35.705s laptime as night fell on the Roar Before the 24.
Preparing for his second Daytona 24 Hours start next weekend and his first in GTP machinery, the reigning IndyCar Champion bettered second-placed Connor De Phillippi in the #24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 (1:35.982s) and Kevin Estre in the #9 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 (1:35.984s).
The penultimate practice session for GTP and final practice for LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD before qualifying for next week’s enduro saw the field take to the 3.56-mile speedway road course for two hours, starting at 18:30 E.T. on Saturday (23:30 GMT).
Fourth fastest went to Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 WTR Andretti Acura ARX-06 who set a lap time of 1:36.005s, 0.3s off of Palou’s benchmark.
The #31 Action Express Cadillac, which topped the timesheets in second and third practice completed the top five in the fifth session thanks to Jack Aitken’s 1:36.251s tour of the circuit.
The remainder of the GTP field was headed by sixth-placed Josef Newgarden in the #7 Porsche Penske entry (1:36.544s), followed by Jesse Krohn in the #24 BMW (1:36.596s), Colton Herta in the #40 WTR Acura (1:36.722s), Gianmaria Bruni in the #5 Proton Porsche (1:36.798s) and Tijmen van der Helm in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche (1:36.903s).
1.198s covered the GTP runners with the #7 Porsche and #24 BMW setting the most laps at 62 tours, followed by the #01 Cadillac and #25 BMW (61 laps).
The #31 Cadillac set the fewest amount of laps amongst the GTP runners (22) – after only getting out on track approximately three-quarters of the way through the session.
In LMP2, the top three consisted of Scott Huffaker in the #20 MDK by High Class Racing Oreca 07-Gibson (1:38.270s), Nicklas Nielsen in the #88 Richard Mille AF Corse Oreca (1:38.576s/+0.306s) and Charles Milesi in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca (1:38.619s/+0.349s).
The GTs were led by the pro-am GTD entry #47 Cetilar Racing’s Ferrari 296 GT3, which Eddie Cheever III guided around the Daytona course in 1:45.739s.
Cheever’s time was 0.241s faster than the fastest GTD Pro entrant – Pfaff Motorsports Marvin Kirchofer in the #9 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO (1:45.980s) who in turn was 0.027s quicker than Dirk Mueller in the second-fastest GTD Pro (third GT overall) entrant, namely the #65 Multimatic Ford Mustang GT3 (1:46.007s).
The next fastest GTD Pro machine was all the way down in 14th overall for the GT competitors and that was the #3 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.R of Daniel Juncadella, who set a time of 1:46.387s, 0.648s back from Cheever.
Instead, the top five of the GT machines were completed by second and third fastest in the pro-am GTDs: Jan Heylen in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (1:46.007s) and Miguel Molina in the #21 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 (1:46.111s).
The Roar Before the 24 action continues with a short 25-minute GTP-only session on Sunday which commences at 13:25 local time (18:25 GMT), followed by Qualifying for the Daytona 24 Hours at 13:55 local time (18:55 GMT).
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