Roar test #2: Albuquerque puts AXR Cadillac on top

Christian Fittipaldi had put the Cadillac DPi-V.R, now powered by a 5.5-liter engine rather than the 6.2-liter unit used in 2017, fastest after 45 minutes when he knocked the CORE autosport Oreca of Colin Braun off top spot by 0.034s.

Then teammate Filipe Albuquerque later improved that benchmark to a 1m37.196s, which left Braun 0.107s off the pace.

Renger van der Zande was third fastest in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, with Tristan Vautier fourth in the Spirit of Daytona example to give the American manufacturer three of the top four positions.

The Spirit of Daytona car, driven by Eddie Cheever III, briefly brought out the red flag with 20 minutes remaining when it stopped at Turn 6.

Ho-Pin Tung's last lap gave the #78 Jota-run Jackie Chan DC Oreca fifth place, relegating teammate Robin Frijns to sixth ahead of Mike Conway in the second Action Express Cadillac.

Nicolas Lapierre was the best of the Nissan DPis in ninth place, with Simon Pagenaud 11th fastest in the lead Penske Acura.

Fernando Alonso continued to acclimatize to Daytona in the #23 United Autosports Ligier LMP2, completing two eight-lap runs at the start of the session and improving his best time to a 1m38.602s.

This took Alonso’s total for the day to 21 laps having completed only five during the first session. Teammate Lando Norris then took over the car, improving to a 1m38.456s as the team ended up 13th.

Jonathan Bomarito put the lead Mazda Team Joest car 15th, 1.680s off the pace.

Laurens Vanthoor’s early time allowed him to lead a Porsche 1-2 in GT Le Mans, setting a lap of 1m44.065s to beat Nick Tandy to first place.

In GT Daytona, Franck Perera was fastest in the Grasser Lamborghini Huracan ahead of the Manthey Porsche 911 of Matteo Cairoli.