Vanthoor puts Porsche on top for final Rolex 24 practice session

Porsche Penske Motorsport set the fastest time in final practice for the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona on Friday morning.

The first 15 minutes of the 75-minute practice session were reserved for Bronze drivers only. Henrik Hedman in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Corvette spun and stopped at the Le Mans Chicane (Bus Stop) and brought out a red flag.

That portion ended with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Chris Cumming setting a 1m41.623s to lead all LMP2 Bronze drivers, while the fastest Bronze across the two GT classes was Kenny Habul in the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG, who set a 1m47.160s.

With temperatures steadily climbing over the course of the weekend, the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 jumped to the top of the leaderboard just before the checkered flag, when Laurens Vanthoor set a 1m36.475s.

Vanthoor’s lap pushed the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R down to second. Ricky Taylor’s best lap of 1m36.571s was the quickest time for most of the remaining hour that all drivers and cars participated.

The No. 24 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor set a 1m36.790s to go third fastest, followed by Julien Andlauer in the No. 7 Penske Porsche.

Louis Deletraz rounded out the top five in the sister No. 40 WTR Cadillac, ahead of the fastest Acura, the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist in sixth. All 11 cars set a representative time, though the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie spent significant time in the pits addressing an issue at the front of the car.

Charles Milesi for TDS Racing ended up with the fastest time in LMP2, setting a 1m39.909s to lead the way in his No. 11 ORECA 07-Gibson.

Cumming’s co-driver Enzo Fittipaldi was second in the No. 73 Pratt Miller ORECA, followed by Grégoire Saucy in the No. 22 United Autosports USA car.

The 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO would finish as the fastest GTD Pro car after all 75 minutes. Habul’s co-driver Maro Engel led the way, finishing with a best lap of 1m46.251s, over six-tenths clear of the field.

Four makes finished inside the top four, with the No. 1 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Max Hesse in second (1m46.871s), then Andrea Caldarelli in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 in third, and Dean MacDonald in the No. 59 RLL Team McLaren 720S GT3 EVO in fourth.

And in GTD, it was a Corvette 1-2-3 finish headed by Scott McLaughlin in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Z06 GT3.R. McLaughlin set a 1m47.155s to lead the class.

After the earlier incident, Giacomo Altoè set the second-fastest time in GTD aboard the No. 81 DragonSpeed Corvette, while Matt Bell was third in the 13 Autosport Corvette. The No. 13 Corvette ran trouble-free after a fire in the engine bay very late in last night’s practice session.

Only two cars, the Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3s, sat out the session voluntarily.

Two additional red flags came out as the session progressed. The first happened when Jon Field lost control at the Le Mans Chicane and went into the tires in his No. 37 Intersport Racing ORECA shortly after Hedman’s incident. Shortly after the halfway mark, the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo stopped at turn two and brought out the third red flag.

The 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona starts tomorrow at 1:40pm ET.

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