Mazda’s Jarvis fastest in Daytona Practice 2

Mazda Motorsports’ Oliver Jarvis turned the fastest lap in Saturday morning’s second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship session at Daytona International Speedway, in preparation for tonight’s WeatherTech 240.

Jarvis toured the 3.56-mile circuit in 1m34.398s in the No. 77 Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi. That's more than a second and a half better than Juan Pablo Montoya’s best lap in Friday evening’s opening practice, although shy of Jarvis' own January Rolex 24 pole lap of 1m33.711s. Friday night, the white No. 77 entry failed to turn a lap due to an issue with the fueling system during the opening session.

Helio Castroneves was second, 0.248s back in the No. 7 Team Penske Acura DPi, followed by Jonathan Bomarito, 0.291s back in the No. 55 Mazda, and Montoya, minus 0.343s in the No. 6 Acura. Fastest of the four Cadillacs was Gabby Chaves -- who is subbing for Felipe Nasr after the latter tested postive for COVID-19 prior to the weekend -- in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering entry, 1.187s in arrears.

The Porsche GT Team sandwiched the six GT Le Mans competitors. Nick Tandy led the session at 1m42.990s in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR-19. He was followed by the Corvette C8.R tandem of Oliver Gavin (0.059s back in the No. 4) and Jordan Taylor (+0.101s in the No. 3). Next were the BMW M8 GTEs of Jesse Krohn (+0.387s in the No. 24) and Bruno Spengler (+0.515s in the No. 25), with Laurens Vanthoor sixth, 0.699s back in the No. 912 Porsche.

Aaron Telitz was fastest in GT Daytona, 1m46.694s in the No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Second was Corey Fergus in the No. 76 Compass McLaren 720 GT3, 0.472s back, followed by Cooper MacNeil, 0.757s behind in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO.

The red flag waved 30 minutes into the session to retrieve the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R of Renger van der Zande, who stopped in the banking in NASCAR Turn 1 with a cut right-rear tire. The car was flat-bedded back to the paddock to avoid damaging any bodywork.

Competitors ran under partly cloudy skies and 84-degree temperatures – although conditions are expected to change later this afternoon before the two-hour, 40-minute race, with round two of the 2020 season set to start at 6:05 p.m. ET.

RESULTS

UP NEXT: 15-minute qualifying sessions for the respective classes will get underway at 1:15 p.m.