Porsche Penske’s Nick Tandy was fastest in the night free practice session as part of the IMSA SportsCar Championship‘s 24 Hours of Daytona.
Slightly damp and greasy track surface conditions started a relatively calm 90-minute second free practice session in the night-time.
The session served as a crucial opportunity for the FIA Bronze-graded LMP2 and GTD drivers to gain experience after dark so that they can participate in the race.
GTP teams refraining from venturing on-track as a result of the seven degree-Celsius ambient and 10-degree Celsius track temperature.
Bryce Aron, the 21-year-old American, drove out in the #85 JDC Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 as the Oreca 07 LMP2 package better suited the conditions.
Conrad Laursen of the #59 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 suffered a reliability issue during the early phase of the session, having slowed down and stopped behind the wall at Turn 3. It did later return to the circuit but went slowly again.
The #25 RLL BMW V8 Hybrid V8 stopped during qualifying earlier and had its motor generator unit and battery changed, continuing to manage their ongoing technical issue.
Track evolution meant that lap times slowly but surely became quicker throughout the course of FP2.
Tandy quickest for Porsche Penske in GTP category
Nick Tandy set the fastest lap time in the #7 Porsche Penske 963 GTP with a 1:36.921.
Toyota GAZOO Racing’s FIA World Endurance Championship team principal Kamui Kobayashi and 2020 Daytona 24H winner set a late lap for second place with an identical lap time to Tandy, albeit set it after Tandy.
On his final lap, fellow Toyota teammate Brendon Hartley in the team-mate #10 WTR Cadillac V-Series.R machine took third with a 1:36.935.
Mathieu Jaminet finished in fourth place in the #7 Porsche Penske after he set a 1:37.162 as reigning FIA Formula E World Champion Pascal Wehrlein put the #85 JDC Miller MotorSports’ Porsche in fifth (1:37.392).
Peugeot Hypercar driver Malthe Jakobsen topped the LMP2 class for the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca 07 with his 1:38.525 lap time.
Matthieu Vaxiviere took second place for the #88 AF Corse Oreca (1:39.080) followed by Tom Dillmann’s #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca (1:39.163).
Jules Gounon (1:47.809) was quickest over the GT field in the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO as Jesse Krohn claimed second in the #48 BMW M4 GT3 EVO (1:48.045).
The other Paul Miller Racing BMW followed as Kelvin van der Linde drove a 1:48.067 lap time.
Marvin Kirchhofer was next in the combined GT classification and at the top of the GTD class for AWA and their #13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Second in GTD was reigning Le Mans 24 Hours winner Antonio Fuoco in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari as David Fumanelli rounded the top-three in the class for the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari.
