Daytona 24 Hours: Acura on top in Roar practice but Porsche closing in

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Cadillacs were the first cars to show their hand in GTP, with Sebastien Bourdais #01 and Alex Lynn (2) ducking into the 1m35s with their third laps, but then Tom Blomqvist sent the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 to the top with a 1m35.363s lap of the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway.

Then the #6 Porsche 963, which had sat idle for most of Friday’s second session, sprung into second with Nick Tandy at the wheel before pitting. Then moving up to split the Ganassi cars was Pipo Derani in the Action Express Racing Cadillac.

Just before the half-hour completed mark, Tandy re-emerged and halved his deficit to Blomqvist to 0.135s.

The Acura of Wayne Taylor Racing didn’t hit the track until halfway through the session, Louis Deletraz turning the car’s first laps of the day, albeit 2s off Blomqvist’s pace.

Felipe Nasr made it a Porsche 2-3, getting the #7 Penske-run machine into third, one-tenth behind Tandy, before Deletraz found a clear track to display his potential, jumping both Porsches to complete an Acura 1-2.

With 25 minutes remaining, Bourdais whittled his Cadillac’s deficit to the lead Acura down to 0.36s before pitting.

Nicolas Lapierre sat atop the LMP2 times in his PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports entry early on ahead of the AF Corse car piloted by Nicklas Nielsen, who then improved to a 1m39.382s.

#52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07: Ben Keating, Paul-Loup Chatin, Alex Quinn, Nicolas Lapierre (Photo by: Art Fleischmann)

Then Lapierre ducked into the 1m38s, half a second clear, before Mikkel Jensen neatly bisected that gap in the #11 TDS Racing car.

Fred Poordad brought out the red flag with 54mins to go when he had a sudden tire deflation in the Proton Competition entry, dropping debris at Turn 5 and then pulling off in Turn 7.

In LMP3, AWA’s Matthew Bell was the pacesetter in the early part of the session, producing a 1m43.266s lap to run two-tenths quicker than John DeAngelis in the Performance Tech Motorsports machine, although Dakota Dickerson split this pair with the Andretti Autosport car.

Lars Kern spun the AWA car and suffered minor damage, but was able to continue without causing a red flag. With 22 minutes remaining in the session, Dickerson moved to the top of the times by shaving a mere 0.069s from Bell’s benchmark, but 10 minutes later he thumped in a 1m42.653s, leaving the Andretti car over six-tenths clear of his nearest rival, which was still Bell.

Owen Trinkler of TGM/TF Sport and Ross Gunn in the Heart of Racing car continued to ensure Aston Martin remained prominent, one tenth ahead of the two Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC Fs – Kyle Kirkwood in the GTD car being one thousandth faster than Mike Conway in the GTD Pro entry.

Then Frederik Schandorff vaulted the McLaren 720S to the top of the times to go 0.6s clear. Kenton Koch became his nearest rival with the Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3, but he was still half a second adrift.

Former open-wheel ace and multiple sportscar race winner Ryan Briscoe elevated the #93 Racers Edge WTR Andretti Autosport Acura NSX into fourth fastest of the GTD class.

Then with just a few minutes to go, Spencer Pumpelly wound up the Magnus Racing Aston Martin to make it a Vantage 3-4-5 across the two GTD classes, and demote the Lexus RC Fs.

The Porsche 911 GT3 Rs appear in desperate need of help from IMSA’s Balance of Performance gurus, propping up the field in the bottom six positions and over two seconds off the pace.

IMSA Daytona 24 Hours - Roar before the 24 FP3 results

Cla	Driver	Class	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun Helio Castroneves Simon Pagenaud	GTP	Acura ARX-06	18	1'35.363
2	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque Louis Deletraz Brendon Hartley	GTP	Acura ARX-06	25	1'35.493	0.130	0.130
3	Mathieu Jaminet Nick Tandy Dane Cameron	GTP	Porsche 963	41	1'35.498	0.135	0.005
4	Matt Campbell Felipe Nasr Michael Christensen	GTP	Porsche 963	28	1'35.601	0.238	0.103
5	Sébastien Bourdais Renger van der Zande Scott Dixon	GTP	Cadillac V-LMDh	31	1'35.724	0.361	0.123
6	Pipo Derani Alexander Sims Jack Aitken	GTP	Cadillac V-LMDh	38	1'35.819	0.456	0.095
7	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook	GTP	Cadillac V-LMDh	37	1'35.994	0.631	0.175
8	Connor de Phillippi Nick Yelloly Sheldon Van Der Linde Colton Herta	GTP	BMW M Hybrid V8	35	1'36.033	0.670	0.039
9	Philipp Eng Augusto Farfus Marco Wittmann Colton Herta	GTP	BMW M Hybrid V8	36	1'36.533	1.170	0.500
10	Ben Keating Paul-Loup Chatin Alex Quinn Nicolas Lapierre	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	39	1'38.877	3.514	2.344
11	Thomas Steven Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker Rinus van Kalmthout	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	42	1'39.131	3.768	0.254
12	François Perrodo Matthieu Vaxiviere Julien Canal Nicklas Nielsen	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	43	1'39.382	4.019	0.251
13	Dennis Andersen Ed Jones Anders Fjordbach Raffaele Marciello	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	37	1'39.581	4.218	0.199
14	Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel Christian Rasmussen Oliver Jarvis	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	38	1'39.594	4.231	0.013
15	Eric Lux Devlin DeFrancesco Austin Cindric Pietro Fittipaldi	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	42	1'39.612	4.249	0.018
16	François Heriau Giedo van der Garde Josh Pierson Job Van Uitert	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	45	1'39.642	4.279	0.030
17	John Farano Scott McLaughlin Josef Newgarden Kyffin Simpson	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	37	1'39.737	4.374	0.095
18	George Kurtz Ben Hanley Matt McMurry Esteban Gutierrez	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	48	1'39.978	4.615	0.241
19	Jarett Andretti Gabby Chaves Dakota Dickerson Rasmus Lindh	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	35	1'42.653	7.290	2.675
20	Fred Poordad Francesco Pizzi James Allen Giammaria Bruni	LMP2	ORECA LMP2 07	24	1'43.080	7.717	0.427
21	Orey Fidani Matthew Bell Lars Kern Moritz Kranz	LMP3	Duqueine D08	33	1'43.266	7.903	0.186
22	Lance Willsey Joao Barbosa Nicolas Pino Danny Soufi	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	35	1'43.459	8.096	0.193
23	John DeAngelis Christopher Allen Cameron Shields Connor Bloum	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	36	1'43.473	8.110	0.014
24	Sebastian Alvarez Danial Frost Alex Vogel Guilherme de	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	31	1'43.524	8.161	0.051
25	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Glenn van Berlo Josh Burdon	LMP3	Ligier JS P320	38	1'43.629	8.266	0.105
26	Anthony Mantella Wayne Boyd Nico Varrone Thomas Merrill	LMP3	Duqueine D08	40	1'43.816	8.453	0.187
27	Yu Kanamaru James Vance Antonio Serravalle Nicholas Boulle	LMP3	Duqueine D08	37	1'43.861	8.498	0.045
28	Till Bechtolsheimer Tijmen van der Helm Luca Mars Mason Filippi	LMP3	Duqueine D08	43	1'45.200	9.837	1.339
29	Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff Ollie Millroy Marvin Kirchhofer	GTD	McLaren 720S GT3	39	1'46.842	11.479	1.642
30	Mike Skeen Mikael Grenier Kenton Koch Maximillian Goetz	GTD	Mercedes AMG GT3	28	1'47.341	11.978	0.499
31	Ted Giovanis Hugh Plumb Matt Plumb Owen Trinkler	GTD PRO	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	37	1'47.359	11.996	0.018
32	Ross Gunn Alex Riberas David Pittard	GTD PRO	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	35	1'47.384	12.021	0.025
33	John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly Nicki Thiim	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	38	1'47.419	12.056	0.035
34	Aaron Telitz Frankie Montecalvo Kyle Kirkwood Parker Thompson	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	40	1'47.433	12.070	0.014
35	Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat Mike Conway	GTD PRO	Lexus RC F GT3	40	1'47.434	12.071	0.001
36	Ashton Harrison Danny Formal Kyle Marcelli Ryan Briscoe	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	37	1'47.471	12.108	0.037
37	Fabian Schiller Axcil Jefferies	GTD	Mercedes AMG GT3	23	1'47.478	12.115	0.007
38	Sheena Monk Katherine Legge Mario Farnbacher Marc Miller	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	42	1'47.483	12.120	0.005
39	Cooper MacNeil Daniel Juncadella Jules Gounon Maro Engel	GTD PRO	Mercedes AMG GT3	40	1'47.519	12.156	0.036
40	Don Yount Jaden Conwright Kerong Li Alessio Deledda	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	41	1'47.613	12.250	0.094
41	Roman De Angelis Marco Sorensen Ian James Darren Turner	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	29	1'47.631	12.268	0.018
42	Andrea Caldarelli Mirko Bortolotti Jordan Lee Pepper Romain Grosjean	GTD PRO	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	40	1'47.640	12.277	0.009
43	Rahel Frey Sarah Bovy Michelle Gatting Doriane Pin	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	35	1'47.759	12.396	0.119
44	Russell Ward Philip Ellis Indy Dontje Lucas Auer	GTD	Mercedes AMG GT3	39	1'47.769	12.406	0.010
45	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Tommy Milner	GTD PRO	Corvette C8.R GTD	35	1'47.814	12.451	0.045
46	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Daniel Serra Davide Rigon	GTD PRO	Ferrari 296 GT3	30	1'47.924	12.561	0.110
47	Patrick Gallagher Robby Foley Michael Dinan Jens Klingmann	GTD	BMW M4 GT3	34	1'47.957	12.594	0.033
48	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Corey Lewis Maxime Martin	GTD	BMW M4 GT3	33	1'47.989	12.626	0.032
49	Raffaele Giammaria Frank Perera Claudio Schiavoni Rolf Ineichen	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	35	1'48.049	12.686	0.060
50	Mikhail Goikhberg Loris Spinelli Benjamin Hites Marco Mapelli	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	35	1'48.140	12.777	0.091
51	Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco Alessandro Balzan	GTD	Ferrari 296 GT3	37	1'48.534	13.171	0.394
52	Bill Auberlen Chandler Hull Bruno Spengler John Edwards	GTD PRO	BMW M4 GT3	36	1'48.564	13.201	0.030
53	Onofrio Triarsi Charles Scardina Alessio Rovera Andrea Bertolini	GTD	Ferrari 296 GT3	38	1'48.863	13.500	0.299
54	Mann Simon Luis Perez Companc Miguel Molina Francesco Castellacci	GTD	Ferrari 296 GT3	37	1'48.913	13.550	0.050
55	Ryan Hardwick Jan Heylen Zacharie Robichon Dennis Olsen	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	33	1'48.951	13.588	0.038
56	Alan Brynjolfsson Trent Hindman Max Root Kevin Estre	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	39	1'49.084	13.721	0.133
57	Klaus Bachler Patrick Pilet Laurens Vanthoor	GTD PRO	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	22	1'49.129	13.766	0.045
58	PJ Hyett Seb Priaulx Gunnar Jeannette Harry Tincknell	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	38	1'49.151	13.788	0.022
59	Alan Metni Kay van Berlo Jaxon Evans Julien Andlauer	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	33	1'49.310	13.947	0.159
60	David Brule Alec Udell Andrew Davis Jeroen Bleekemolen	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	33	1'49.352	13.989	0.042
61	Mark Kvamme Trenton Estep Jan Magnussen Jason Hart	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	11	1'49.430	14.067	0.078
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