Nasr leads opening Roar session for Porsche

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s quest for a Rolex 24 At Daytona three-peat began with the best time in the opening test session of the Roar Before The 24 on Friday morning. The updated-for-2026 Porsche 963s finished first and third on the GTP leaderboard as two-time and defending winner Felipe Nasr set a best lap of 1m36.327s in the No. 7 Penske Porsche.

His race-winning co-driver from last year, Laurens Vanthoor, went third quickest in the No. 6 Penske Porsche (1m36.435s). And curiously, the two factory Porsches were split in the GTP running order by sole privateer JDC-Miller MotorSports, running the 2025-spec 963. JDC newcomer Nico Pino turned in a quick lap of 1m36.331s, within four-thousandths of Nasr’s best lap.

Behind them were the two Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.Rs, led by the No. 40 of Louis Deletraz ahead of the No. 10 of Filipe Albuquerque. Similarly, the two BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8s were sixth and seventh, the No. 25 of Marco Wittmann ahead of the No. 24 of René Rast.

The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac, No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06, and No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie completed the top 10 in GTP. Both Acuras didn’t turn laps until late in the session, and the No. 60 did not set a representative time.

TDS Racing’s No. 11 ORECA 07-Gibson led LMP2 as Charles Milesi turned in a 1m38.935s, putting him two-tenths ahead of the No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA of Pietro Fittipaldi in second. New McLaren Hypercar recruit Mikkel Jensen was third fastest in the No. 2 United Autosports USA Ligier.

Both GT classes had surprising leaders after one 75-minute test session. In the case of GTD PRO, it was the No. 59 RLL Team McLaren GT3 EVO that went fastest as McLaren GT ace Dean MacDonald set a 1m44.766s. This put him 0.024s up on Andrea Caldarelli in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, in second.

The No. 75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO was third quickest in GTD PRO. Will Power brought out the only red flag of the session, which was very brief, after the two-time IndyCar Series champion spun off at Turn 1. He was able to quickly resume and complete the session with no further drama.

Like Power, several other cars in LMP2 and the GT classes had minor off-track moments but were able to resume without any significant trouble. The same couldn't be said for the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 which had a serious issue at the rear of the car, keeping GTD’s only full-time Ferrari sidelined for most of the session.

Manthey’s No. 911 “Grello” Porsche 911 GT3 R also went to the garage for service at the front of the car – it only turned five laps.

Over in GTD, Spencer Pumpelly was the surprise class leader in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO, recording a 1m47.304s in the “Virtual Energy” Special. Behind them were James Roe in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG, and Trent Hindman in the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini.

Session 2 begins this afternoon at 4:00pm ET.

RESULTS