Action Express’ Sims Leads Cadillac 1-2 In Friday Practice
The 61st annual Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona had its final all-hands practice session on Friday morning, and Alexander Sims drove Action Express Racing’s #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-LMDh to the fastest time in practice number four.
Sims set a lap of 1’35.493 within the final 20 minutes of this one-hour session, displacing Scott Dixon from the top spot after the three-time Rolex 24 overall winner set a 1’35.717 just a few minutes earlier.
That time would stand as the best from the Chip Ganassi Racing-operated #01 Cadillac, second-fastest of all in the GTP category.
BMW Team RLL produced an encouraging result at the end of the session when Nick Yelloly popped up to third place in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, with a 1’35.925. He was just 0.016 seconds ahead of the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 in fourth, with Matt Campbell setting the early pace with a 1’35.941.
Defending Rolex 24 champions Meyer Shank Racing were fifth-quickest, Simon Pagenaud set a 1’36.123 in their #60 Acura ARX-06. But his IndyCar team-mate Helio Castroneves had a clumsy moment in the final minutes, causing a red flag when he spun and blocked the exit of pit lane past the concrete barrier.
The two-time Rolex 24 winner was given a five-minute penalty stop once the session restarted, after driving backwards down the one-lane road to turn his car around.
Alex Lynn was sixth in the #02 Ganassi Cadillac, followed by Dane Cameron in the #6 Penske Porsche, and Ricky Taylor in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura. Marco Wittmann spun exiting turn six in the #24 BMW, but was able to continue and the car completed a full testing menu. They still sat ninth and last in class.
GTP cars will get a final 20 minute exclusive practice session this evening at 6:25 PM EST. The other four classes are done until tomorrow:
Mikkel Jensen led LMP2, setting a 1’38.052 aboard the #11 TDS Racing Oreca LMP2 07-Gibson. This was the fastest time in LMP2 across all four practice sessions this week, and it was enough for the Dane to lead his class by nearly six tenths of a second.
2022 overall winner Oliver Jarvis was second in the #18 ERA Motorsports Oreca, and Ben Hanley was third, driving the ex-Penske chassis #04 CrowdStrike Racing with APR Oreca.
It was also worth noting that the rebuilt #55 Proton Competition Oreca was able to get back out on track halfway into the session. This was the car’s first running since rookie Francesco Pizzi crashed in practice two, James Allen did three laps before bringing the car back in.
Andretti Autosport’s #36 Ligier JS P320 led LMP3 for the second straight session. After Rasmus Lindh paced night practice yesterday, it was third-generation driver Jarett Andretti who set the top time at 1’43.191.
As before, the Andretti Ligier was followed by AWA’s two Duquiene D08s. Moritz Kranz went second-quickest in the yellow and black #13, and Nico Varrone was third in the green #17. Luca Mars was fourth-fastest in the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Duquiene, as co-driver Till Bechtolsheimer continued to try and find his footing on cold tyres.
And Sean Creech Motorsport were back out on track after a catastrophic mechanical failure yesterday afternoon. The #33 Ligier completed 27 laps and João Barbosa was fifth-quickest.
Mercedes-AMG teams in GTD completed a clean sweep of all four all-hands practice sessions, and led both GTD and GTD Pro once again.
The fastest GTD car of all was in the “Pro-Am” class, the #32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes driven by Mikaël Grenier set the benchmark early and led his class with a time of 1’46.375. This was the third straight session that Team Korthoff Motorsports have led GTD.
GTD Pro was led for the third straight session by the Proton-run #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes. Jules Gounon led the class with a time of 1’46.651, while the top three in GTD pro were covered by less than five hundredths of a second!
A close group of three saw the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 finish just 0.038 seconds back with new Lamborghini recruit Romain Grosjean setting the green machine’s best time. And Owen Trinkler was only a further sixth thousandths of a second behind, in the #64 TGM/TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 with its crew of all Bronze and Silver drivers.
Ross Gunn was fourth-quickest in the #23 Heart of Racing Vantage, then it was the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 in fifth, with Davide Rigon setting its best time. Tommy Milner got into an awkward collision with LMP2 am driver Steven Thomas earlier in the session but the #3 Corvette Racing was able to finish the session sixth in its class. Neither the #53 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R or the #95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 set a time.
Back in GTD, Zimbabwe’s Axcil Jeffries finished second in the session, three-tenths back of Grenier’s best time and completing a Mercedes 1-2.
Katherine Legge, continuing her pursuit of a Daytona class win, finished third in the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, followed by Franck Perera in the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini, and Miguel Molina in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari rounding out the top five.
Along with Winward Racing’s backup car which is being prepared to start the race, the #42 NTE Sport/SSR Lamborghini was still undergoing repairs and did not run after Kerong Li’s shunt in practice session two.
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