Juan Pablo Montoya has set the quickest time in the opening practice session of the Weathertech 240 at Daytona, besting Pipo Derani in the closing minutes of the session to go fastest as Porsche led in GTLM.
Montoya set a 01:35:960 in the #6 Team Penske Acura ARX-05 with four minutes remaining, besting the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-VR by a mere 0.016s. Derani shared the car with Gabby Chaves, a last-minute replacement for Felipe Nasr after Nasr tested positive for COVID-19.
Harry Tincknell set the third fastest time in the #55 Mazda RT24-P, returning to the car for the first time since signing a contract extension with Multimatic Motorsports. Ricky Taylor set the fourth time in the #7 Team Penske Acura, while Chris Miller completed the top five in the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac. Ryan Briscoe and Sebastien Bourdais completed the leaderboard in DPi.
The #77 Mazda RT24-P of Jonathan Bomarito and Tristan Nunez was the only car not to set a lap in the session after spending the hour behind the wheel with an engine issue.
Porsche leads GTLM
Porsche topped the timing sheets in GTLM. Laurens Vanthoor set the quickest time in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR-19, posting a 01:44:003 early on which remained unbeaten throughout the hour.
The two Porsches spent much of the session in a one-two position before a late effort by Tommy Milner demoted the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 to third place. Milner ended up just seven-hundredths slower in the #4 Corvette C8.R and five-tenths clear of the second Porsche in the hands of Nick Tandy.
Jordan Taylor was fourth in the sister Corvette, while BMW brought up the rear. The #24 BMW M8 GTE of John Edwards was fifth ahead of the #25 of Connor de Philippi.
De Philippi shares the car with IMSA iRacing Pro Series champion Bruno Spengler, with the BMW sporting the same red and grey colour scheme that Spengler carried to esports success during the lockdown period.
Scuderia Corsa on top in GTD
Scuderia Corsa topped the timing sheets in GT Daytona. Toni Vilander led the way in the Weathertech-branded #63 Ferrari 488 GT3, which carries a one-off patriotic colour scheme in honour of Fourth of July.
The Finn set a 01:47:481 to go two-tenths quicker than the #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Townsend Bell, with reigning GTD champion Mario Farnbacher third in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo. Alvaro Parente was fourth in the sister Acura, with Patrick Long rounding out the top five in the #16 Wright Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R.
The GTD class featured a number of new competitors. Gradient Racing made their IMSA debut with their #22 Acura NSX GT3 Evo, while Team Hardpoint debuted their #30 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo.
Compass Racing returned to the championship and gave the McLaren 720S GT3 its Daytona debut, having not run in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.
