Young Chilean Nico Pino tops sixth Roar session at Daytona

JDC Miller’s Nico Pino topped the timesheets in the sixth session of the IMSA Roar Before the 24, the traditional pre-season test for the IMSA Sportscar Championship and the before the Daytona 24 Hours, the traditional season-opener for the series.

The young Chilean, in the customer #85 JDC Miller Porsche 963, set a 1:37.099 to go quickest, 0.055 faster than factory Porsche driver Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche. Estre’s teammate Felipe Nasr was third, two tenths off Pino.

Fourth was Ricky Taylor, in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, with his brother Jordan fifth in the #40 WTR Cadillac machine.

Sixth and seventh were the two BMWs, Kevin Magnussen in the #25 ahead of Rene Rast in the sister #24 car. Eighth was Earl Bamber in the third of the Cadillacs, while ninth went to Renger van der Zande in the #93 Acura MSR. 10th was Marco Sorensen in the #23 Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie, while Colin Braun in the #60 Acura MSR rounded out the GTP field in 11th.

The #1 BMW Paul Miller Racing took the chequered flag courtesy of British driver Dan Harper. Image: Kevin Dejewski

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Ben Hanley was quickest in LMP2, in the #2 United Autosports Oreca machine, setting a 1:40.101. Maunel Espirito Santo was second in the #73 Pratt Miller Oreca, exactly a tenth off Hanley, while third was Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #83 AF Corse Oreca, 0.064 off Santo.

Joey Hand was quickest in the combined GTD Pro/GTD standings, in the GTD-entered #66 Gradient Racing Ford Mustang GT3. His 1:47.421 was just over a tenth quicker than Kenny Habul in the GTD Pro-entered #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG.

Second and third in GTD Pro were Christopher Mies in the #65 Ford Mustang GT3, a further couple of tenths off Habul, and Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette Z06 GT3R.

Second in GTD, and fifth in the combined standings, was Mason Fillippi, onboard the #36 DXDT Racing Corvette. Third, but 10th in the combined standings was Philip Ellis in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

The session ran cleanly until a reds flag ended proceedings earlier than expected, caused by Ferrari factory driver Antonio Fuoco stopping the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 on track, putting an end to the action.