Nick Tandy topped the first practice session for the Roar Before the 24, the qualifying session for the Daytona 24 Hours, in the #6 Porsche 963.
The Brit set a 1:35.617 to go fastest, 0.035 ahead of Augusto Farfus, behind the wheel of the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8. His teammate was next, just over a tenth behind — Nick Yelloly in the #25 BMW.
Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou was next up in the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R, almost two and a half tenths off Tandy, with the sister #31 Cadillac, run by Action Express Racing, in fifth, with Jack Aitken behind the wheel.
Colton Herta was the fastest of the two Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti cars, with the American 0.412 off Tandy in the #40 WTR Andretti Acura ARX-06. His teammate Ricky Taylor was less than a tenth off him in the #10 Acura, while Felipe Nasr was eighth quickest in the #7 Porsche. Richard Westbrook was ninth fastest in the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports Porsche 963.
Two red flags interrupted the session’s green flag running. The first was for debris at turn, 26 minutes in, while the second was caused by the #20 High Class LMP2 car’s accident late on in the session.
In LMP2, Peugeot works driver Paul di Resta was quickest in the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson, with a 1:39.916, with Ferdinand Habsburg following him in the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca, less than half a tenth off the Scot. In third was Ferrari WEC driver Nicklas Nielsen, in the #88 Richard Mille AF Corse Oreca, just under a tenth off Di Resta.
With GTD and GTD Pro sharing a ruleset, a GTD-entered car topped the timesheets in this session, courtesy of Katherine Legge in the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3. She set a 1:46.289, over six tenths faster than the top GTD Pro car, Matteo Cressoni in the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.
Second in GTD and third overall in the two classes was Nico Varrone in the #17 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R, while Andrea Caldarelli was second in GTD Pro in the sister #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini.
Third in GTD Pro and fifth in GT was Daniel Serra, behind the wheel of the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, while in GTD, Antonio Fuoco was third in the #47 Cetilar Ferrari.
The next session takes place 4:15pm local time today.
