Acura Team Penske has topped the opening practice session ahead of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, outpacing Mazda Team Joest and the the Cadillacs.
Juan Pablo Montoya posted the session’s fastest time in the #6 Acura ARX-05, setting a 01:49:917. This was a mere 0.039s clear of the #77 Mazda RT24-P of Olivier Pla, who took second with a late flying lap.
The #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-VR of Tristan Vautier completed the top three ahead Sebastien Bourdais’ #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac.
Ricky Taylor was fifth in the sister Acura, ahead of Ryan Briscoe in the Konica Minolta Cadillac and the second Mazda of Ryan Hunter-Reay.
LMP2 was led by Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre in the #8 Tower Motorsport by Starworks ORECA 07-Gibson, with his 01:52:193 well over half a second clear of Dragonspeed’s Ben Hanley. Simon Trummer was an additional two seconds down in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA.
Laurens Vanthoor led a Porsche one-two as the Belgian posted a best time of 01:57:031 in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR-19. He was three-tenths clear of team-mate Nick Tandy in the #911.
Corvette locked down positions three and four, with the #3 C8.R of Antonio Garcia ahead of the #4 of Marcel Fässler. Fifth and sixth were held down by the two BMWs as Alessandro Pier Guidi brought up the rear in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.
Newly signed Audi factory driver Mirko Bortolotti proved his use in GTD, as he led the #88 Team WRT Speedstar Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo to a fastest time of 01:58:763. Porsche’s Patrick Pilet was second in the #9 PFAFF Porsche 911 GT3 R, while Albert Costa completed the top three in the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.
