Bourdais, who has won on this track in IndyCar, lapped the 2.35-mile 14-turn course in 1min19.307sec to outpace Ricky Taylor in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 by just over two-tenths of a second.
Alex Lynn, despite encountering the fiendishly bumpy course for the first time this week, was barely more than a quarter-second from Bourdais to ensure both Ganassi entries were in the top three. Tom Blomqvist was similarly impressive and for the same reason, as his Meyer Shank Racing Acura lapped the course just a tenth slower than the WTR Acura.
Tristan Vautier and Olivier Pla were fifth and sixth in the JDC Miller MotorSports and Action Express Racing Cadillacs, respectively.
Fastest in the GT Daytona class was Vasser Sullivan Racing’s late call-up, Indy Lights champion and rising IndyCar star Kyle Kirkwood. His Lexus RC F lapped the course a mere 0.007sec faster than both Mike Skeen in the Korthoff Mercedes AMG GT3 and Jan Heylen in Wright Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3 R, who set identical times to the thousandth of a second.
Only two-hundredths slower than Kirkwood was Frankie Montecalvo in the second Lexus, with a similar margin over Roman De Angelis in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage.
Qualifying starts at 5.30pm local (Eastern) time.
| Cla | Driver | Class | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Renger van der Zande  Sébastien Bourdais
| DPi | Cadillac DPi | 48 | 1'19.307 | |
| 2 |
 Ricky Taylor  Filipe Albuquerque
| DPi | Acura DPi | 55 | 1'19.520 | 0.213 |
| 3 |
 Earl Bamber  Alex Lynn
| DPi | Cadillac DPi | 47 | 1'19.571 | 0.264 |
| 4 |
Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist
| DPi | Acura DPi | 49 | 1'19.637 | 0.330 |
| 5 |
Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook
| DPi | Cadillac DPi | 51 | 1'20.307 | 1.000 |
| 6 |
Olivier Pla  Pipo Derani
| DPi | Cadillac DPi | 56 | 1'20.365 | 1.058 |
| 7 |
Ben Barnicoat Kyle Kirkwood
| GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 39 | 1'29.993 | 10.686 |
| 8 |
Mike Skeen Stevan McAleer
| GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 35 | 1'30.000 | 10.693 |
| 9 |
Ryan Hardwick  Jan Heylen
| GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 58 | 1'30.000 | 10.693 |
| 10 |
Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz
| GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 47 | 1'30.020 | 10.713 |
| 11 |
 Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn
| GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 54 | 1'30.043 | 10.736 |
| 12 |
Robert Megennis Jeff Westphal
| GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 44 | 1'30.057 | 10.750 |
| 13 |
Ryan Eversley  Aidan Read
| GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 32 | 1'30.108 | 10.801 |
| 14 |
Bryan Sellers Madison Snow
| GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 54 | 1'30.224 | 10.917 |
| 15 |
Robby Foley Bill Auberlen
| GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 43 | 1'30.650 | 11.343 |
| 16 |
Russell Ward  Philip Ellis
| GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 13 | 1'30.773 | 11.466 |
| View full results | ||||||
