Porsche’s Laurens Vanthoor set the pace in the fifth Roar Before the 24 session, the traditional IMSA pre-season test before the Daytona 24 Hours, the season opener for the IMSA Sportscar Championship.
Behind the wheel of the #6 Porsche 963, which he shares with Kevin Estre and Matt Campbell, the Belgian set a 1:37.239 to go quickest, with the car completing 55 laps overall.
This was 0.103 faster than Colton Herta in the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac. In third was Will Stevens in the sister #10 WTR Cadillac, a further tenth and a half off his teammate.
Fourth was the other factory Porsche Penske machine, this time with Laurin Heinrich at the wheel. The German was 0.264 off his teammate, but just 0.010 off Stevens ahead.
Fifth was Nico Pino in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche, while sixth was Fred Vesti in the #31 Action Express Cadillac. Seventh was Laurens Vanthoor’s younger brother, Dries Vanthoor, in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8.
Nick Yelloly was eighth in the #93 Acura MSR, while ninth was Philipp Eng in the #25 BMW. 10th went to AJ Allmendinger in the #60 Acura MSR machine. The #23 Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie didn’t do any laps as it is having its engine changed.
In LMP2, Mikkel Jensen set the pace in the #2 United Autosports Oreca, with a 1:39.770. This was three and a half tenths quicker than Nolan Siegel in the #343 Inter Europol Oreca, with the sister car, the #43, third in the hands of Antonio Felix da Costa.
Will Power topped the GTD / GTD Pro times in the #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Australian Indycar legend lapped Daytona in 1:47.673, 0.060 faster than Felipe Fraga in the GTD-entered #16 Myers Riley Ford Mustang GT3.
Second in GTD Pro and third in the combined classes was Fabian Schiller in the #69 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3, a further 0.233 off Fraga and almost three tenths off Power.
Third in GTD Pro, fourth overall was Andrea Caldarelli in the #9 Pfaff Lamborghini Huracan GT3, 0.059 adrift of Schiller.
Indy Dontke, in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, was second in GTD and fifth in the two classes, while third in GTD and sixth overall was Casper Stevenson in the #81 DragonSpeed Corvette Z06 GT3R.
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