Oliver Jarvis has set the fastest time in the second and final practice session for the Weathertech 240 at Daytona. The Mazda driver bested Helio Castroneves and team-mate Jonathan Bomarito in a late dash of fastest laps in a session that was briefly red flagged after Renger van der Zande stopped on track.
Jarvis set a 01:34:398 in his #77 Mazda RT24-P, bouncing back from a difficult first session on Friday in which he and team-mate Tristan Nunes did not complete any running due to an engine issue. The Briton was 0.248s fastest than the #7 Acura ARX-05 of Castroneves.
Late dash of lap times in DPi, trouble for Van der Zande
Mazda Motorsports were running one-two for a significant portion of the session until a late flurry of quick laps from the DPi runners promoted Jarvis into the lead and the two Team Penske cars to second and third.
Bomarito then improved late on in the #55 Mazda to go third fastest with 01:34:689, demoting the #6 Acura of Juan Pablo Montoya down to fourth place ahead of the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-VR of Gabby Chaves.
The two JDC-Miller Motorsports-entered Cadillacs were fifth and sixth, with the #85 of Tristan Vautier ahead of the #10 Mustang Sampling machine of Sebastien Bourdais.
The 90-minute session was briefly stopped halfway through when Renger van der Zande suffered a puncture in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-VR. The Dutchman was only able to complete eight laps as his stricken Cadillac had to be towed back to the garage for bodywork repairs, but the car is expected to be repaired in time for qualifying later today.
Late flyer for Tandy denies Corvette 1-2
Nick Tandy topped the timing for Porsche for the second straight session with a late 01:42:990 that denied Corvette Racing a one-two. The Briton’s late hot lap in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 was less than a tenth quicker than compatriot Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette C8.R.
Antonio Garcia was another tenth of a second back in the #3 Corvette, setting a 01:43:150 that was still quick enough to beat the BMW M8 GTEs of Jesse Krohn and Bruno Spengler.
Laurens Vanthoor, who led the way in the opening session on Friday, brought up the rear in class in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR-19 with a time of 01:43:689, seven-tenths slower than team-mate Tandy.
Aaron Telitz set the quickest time in GTD in his Sprint Cup debut for AIM Vasser Sullivan, posting a 01:46:694 behind the wheel of the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 to go nearly half a second quicker than the #76 Compass Racing McLaren 720S GT3 of Corey Fergus.
The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3, which set the pace in GTD in opening practice, was third fastest in the hands of Cooper MacNeil with a time of 01:47:451.
Qualifying for the Weathertech 240 at Daytona gets underway at 1:55 p.m. ET.
