DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –Thursday’s (Jan. 25) practice for the Rolex 24 at Daytona largely mirrored last weekend’s ROAR ahead of the 24th. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou was fastest overall in a Cadillac with a lap of 134. 074 mph in the afternoon session.
For Palou, someone who had had limited time in the Cadillac VSeries. R before the ROAR before the 24th, Thursday was educational.
“Lots of learning [for me]. Every time you go out in the car, you’re dealing with different conditions and traffic. I’m learning as much as I can from the car going into the race.”
In the morning practice session, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Kevin Estre was quickest for a decent chunk of the session. He was eventually overtaken by Rene Rast. In the end, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon set a lap at 133.483 mph with two minutes remaining in the session to top the chart.
Dixon’s lap was 0. 127 moments faster than BMW M Team RLL’s Connor de Phillippi’s. Estre finished third, followed by Dries Vanthoor in the second BMW. Denmark’s Cameron finished fifth in the most productive Porsche.
LMP2 was topped by CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s Toby Sowery with a lap at 128.925 mph, 11th overall. Sowery’s lap was .122 seconds faster than United Autosports’ Ben Hanley in the Wynn’s-sponsored No. 2. TDS Racing’s Charles Milesi was third, then Era Motorsport’s Ryan Dalziel. Inter Europol Competition with PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports’ Tom Dillmann was third.
In the GT ranks, Gradient Racing’s Katherine Legge took advantage of the cooler conditions earlier in the session to set the best lap of all GT runners with a lap at 120.242 mph in her Acura. That lap was .275 seconds faster than Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley. The Ferrari of Conquest Racing’s Albert Costa was third, then Winward Racing’s Russell Ward and Cetilar Racing’s Antonio Fuoco.
GTD Pro led Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth with a lap of 120. 019 seconds. The lap time of all GT drivers, almost two tenths slower than Legge.
Hawksworth’s lap was .074 seconds faster than Pfaff Motorsports’ Marvin Kirchhoefer in his McLaren. Risi Competizione’s James Calado was third, then SunEnergy1 Racing’s Jules Gounon and Iron Lynx’s Mirko Bortolotti.
The 105-minute afternoon consultation on the same thing in the most sensible of the standings. The Chip Ganassi Racing team was in the lead for the vast majority of the consultation. Renger van der Zande set the most productive time in less than 30 minutes. This time was maintained until Palou set the most productive time of the day in the final 15 minutes, reserved only for the GTP and GTD Pro teams.
Palou’s lap was .135 seconds faster than Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Felipe Nasr. Gianmaria Bruni in the Proton Competition Porsche was third, then Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken. Mathieu Jaminet was fifth in the second factory Porsche.
Clément Novalak in the No. 52 Inter Europol/PR1 Mathiasen fastest in LMP2 with a lap of 128. 913 mph, just 0. 009 seconds slower than Sowery in early practice. The lap 0. 081 seconds faster than reigning winner James Allen, who now drives for CrowdStrike Racing’s DragonSpeed. Malthe Jakobsen to APR third, followed by Tower Motorsports’ Scott McLaughlin. Riley Motorsports’ Felipe Massa fifth.
In the GT classes, MDK Motorsports/High Class Racing’s Klaus Bachler backed up his strong pace from the ROAR Before the 24 to lead the GT3 drivers with a lap at 119.725 mph. Bachler’s lap was .040 seconds faster than the Ford Mustang GT3 of Dennis Olsen. Costa was third, then Jens Klingmann in the Turner BMW. Magnus Racing’s Nicki Thiim was fifth.
GTD Pro dominated through Pfaff Motorsports’ Alexander Rossi with a lap of 119. 615 mph. That lap alone was smart enough to take fourth place among GT drivers, but only 0. 099 seconds slower than Bachler.
Rossi’s lap was 0. 164 seconds faster than Risi Competizione’s Daniel Serra. AO Racing’s Laurin Heinrich was third in his Porsche, followed by Bortolotti and Tommy Milner’s Corvette Racing of Pratt Miller Motorsports.
The only red flag in WeatherTech’s practice came 20 minutes after the consultation when Riley Motorsports’ Josh Burdon collided with debris on the track that blew out two tires. He decided to stop on the track to damage the floor of his ORECA 07-Gibson. Converting the tires and reconditioning the car, the Riley Motorsports ORECA returned to the track. Massa finished 11th in his class.
During the consultation itself, Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani set the fastest lap of the consultation at 133. 907mph on his second lap out of the pits after the red flag. The lap ended up being 0. 310 moments faster than Nasr. Sébastien Bourdais 3rd in Ganassi Cadillac, followed by Phillippi and Philipp Eng in the No. 24.
Jakobsen powered his number 04 silver and orange daytime running light to the top of the LMP2 category with a lap of 129. 238 mph, the fastest lap of the day in LMP2. The lap was 0. 306 seconds faster than Patricio O’Ward of United Autosports. Motorsport’s Christian Rasmussen was third, followed by Tower Motorsport’s Ferdinand Habsburg. TDS Racing’s Mikkel Jensen fifth.
Corvette Racing via Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Earl Bamber was fastest in GTD Pro with a lap of 120. 034 mph to lead all GT racers. His lap was 0. 088 seconds faster than teammate Alexander Sims. Iron Lynx’s Matteo Cairoli was third in his Lamborghini, followed by Ford Multimatic Motorsports. Harry Tincknell. Calado finished fifth in his Ferrari.
MDK Motorsports/High Class Racing’s Larry ten Voorde was fastest in GTD with a lap at 119.692 mph, fifth quickest of all GT drivers. Ten Voorde’s lap was .022 seconds faster than Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Danny Formal. Cetilar Racing’s Eddie Cheever III was third in his Ferrari, then the McLaren of Inception Racing’s Tom Gamble. Kellymoss with Riley’s Julien Andlauer was fifth.
Two groups did not practice throughout the evening consultation. One of them was Pfaff Motorsports. They spent the entire consultation practicing pit stops. The other was the Lexus No. 14 by Vasser Sullivan.
There is one more 60-minute practice session scheduled for Friday morning at 11:20 a.m. ET. That will be the last chance to fine tune before the race.
The Rolex 24 at Daytona is expected to turn green at 13:40 ET on Saturday afternoon. The Daytona policy will debut on NBC at 1:30 p. m. ET. Check your local programming to see if your local partner will be broadcasting the show. From there, the schedule is as follows. follows (indexed time intervals are spaces unique to Peacock):
Phil Allaway has 3 main roles at Frontstretch. He is the administrator of the site’s FREE email newsletter, which is published Monday through Friday and on weekends. He ensures TV broadcaster honesty with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and is the site’s sports car racing host. editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press secretary for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, New York. It covers all the action on the steeply sloping track, from regular DIRTcar Modified races to occasional visits from roving series, such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
This guy knows how to drive. . . I wonder if he’s thinking about Nascar.