Practice report
IMSA Daytona 24
Rolex 24: Ganassi Cadillac leads very close first practice
Renger van der Zande’s Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac went fastest in opening practice for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, but the top four cars were covered by less than 0.2sec.
David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: Jan 29, 2021, 1:54 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Van der Zande, who won the last two Rolex 24 Hours in Wayne Taylor Racing’s Cadillac, lapped the 3.56-mile road course in 1min34.649sec to shade Mike Conway’s best effort in the similar DPi-V.R of Action Express Racing by just 0.082sec.
Third was Harry Tincknell in the Mazda RT24-P ahead of Ricky Taylor of WTR which this year runs one of the Acura ARX-05s.
JDC Miller MotorSports’ Cadillac was fifth fastest, 0.3sec off top spot in the hands of Loic Duval, while Simon Pagenaud was sixth in the second Action Express Cadillac, just under half a second behind P1, although the 2016 IndyCar champion appeared to suffer a power outage during his spell behind the wheel.
The 2019 IMSA champion Dane Cameron was seventh in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
Nicolas Lapierre was predictably fast in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca to head the LMP2 field ahead of Ben Hanley in one of DragonSpeed’s two entries. Racing Team Nederland claimed third thanks to Job van Uitert.
In LMP3, new to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship this year, Jeroen Bleekemolen in Riley Motorsports’ Ligier was 0.45sec quicker than his nearest rival, Colin Braun in the similar CORE autosport machine, while late signing Kenton Koch was third for Muehlner Motorsports in the #6 Duqueine-Nissan.
Tommy Milner and Antonio Garcia, 0.3sec apart, put Corvette Racing 1-2 in GT Le Mans, the team stalwarts having not been part of the 100-minute qualifying race last Sunday.
Jules Gounon was third in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488, who in turn was 0.2sec ahead of Richard Lietz in the new WeatherTech Racing Proton Porsche 911 RSR. The faster of the two BMW M8s, Bruno Spengler’s #25 entry, was 1.2sec off Milner’s Corvette.
Alegra Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 steered by Billy Johnson emerged top of the GT Daytona class, mere hundredths ahead of Earl Bamber in the Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R, and the similar Pfaff Motorsports 911 of Matt Campbell.
Fourth was Andy Lally in the Magnus Archangel Acura NSX in front of Jack Hawksworth (Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F) and Albert Costa (Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan).
The other Grasser Lambo caused one of two red flags in the session when it ground to a halt on track, while Cody Ware in the RWR Eurasia LMP2 Oreca caused the other when it slapped a wall.
Second practice commences at 3.20pm local (Eastern) time.
Practice results:
Cla Num Driver Class Chassis Time Gap 1 01 Renger van der Zande
Kevin Magnussen
Scott Dixon
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'34.649 2 31 Felipe Nasr
Mike Conway
Pipo Derani
Chase Elliott
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'34.731 0.082 3 55 Oliver Jarvis
Harry Tincknell
Jonathan Bomarito
DPi Mazda DPi 1'34.786 0.137 4 10 Ricky Taylor
Filipe Albuquerque
Alexander Rossi
Helio Castroneves
DPi Acura DPi 1'34.821 0.172 5 5 Tristan Vautier
Loic Duval
Sébastien Bourdais
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'34.963 0.314 6 48 Jimmie Johnson
Kamui Kobayashi
Simon Pagenaud
Mike Rockenfeller
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'35.134 0.485 7 60 Dane Cameron
Olivier Pla
Juan Pablo Montoya
A.J. Allmendinger
DPi Acura DPi 1'35.959 1.310 8 52 Ben Keating
Mikkel Jensen
Scott Huffaker
Nicolas Lapierre
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'36.153 1.504 9 81 Rob Hodes
Garett Grist
Rinus van Kalmthout
Ben Hanley
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'36.403 1.754 10 29 Frits van Eerd
Giedo van der Garde
Job Van Uitert
Charles Milesi
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'36.446 1.797 11 47 Roberto Lacorte
Antonio Fuoco
Andrea Belicchi
Giorgio Sernagiotto
LMP2 Dallara LMP2 1'36.758 2.109 12 20 Dennis Andersen
Ferdinand Habsburg
Anders Fjordbach
Robert Kubica
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'36.924 2.275 13 8 John Farano
Gabriel Aubry
Timothé Buret
Matthieu Vaxiviere
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'36.966 2.317 14 18 Dwight Merriman
Kyle Tilley
Ryan Dalziel
Paul-Loup Chatin
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'37.084 2.435 15 82 Eric Lux
Devlin DeFrancesco
Fabian Schiller
Christopher Mies
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'37.339 2.690 16 11 Thomas Steven
Tristan Nunez
Thomas Merrill
Matthew Bell
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 1'38.217 3.568 17 51 Cody Ware
Salih Yoluc
Austin Dillon
Sven Muller
LMP2 Ligier LMP2 1'40.043 5.394 18 91 Jim Cox
Dylan Murry
Austin McCusker
Jeroen Bleekemolen
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'42.416 7.767 19 4 Tommy Milner
Nick Tandy
Alexander Sims
GTLM Corvette C8.R 1'42.766 8.117 20 54 Jon Bennett
George Kurtz
Colin Braun
Matt McMurry
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'42.855 8.206 21 6 Moritz Kranz
Hoerr Laurents
Kenton Koch
Stevan McAleer
LMP3 Duqueine D08 1'42.879 8.230 22 7 Mark Kvamme
Ryan Norman
Gabby Chaves
Charles Finelli
LMP3 Duqueine D08 1'42.946 8.297 23 3 Antonio Garcia
Jordan Taylor
Nick Catsburg
GTLM Corvette C8.R 1'43.062 8.413 24 62 James Calado
Alessandro Pier Guidi
Jules Gounon
Davide Rigon
GTLM Ferrari 488 GTE 1'43.196 8.547 25 74 Gar Robinson
Spencer Pigot
Scott Andrews
Oliver Askew
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'43.348 8.699 26 79 Cooper MacNeil
Kevin Estre
Richard Lietz
Gianmaria Bruni
GTLM Porsche 911 RSR - 19 1'43.400 8.751 27 38 Rasmus Lindh
Cameron Cassels
Mateo Llarena
Ayrton Ori
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'43.472 8.823 28 33 Lance Willsey
Joao Barbosa
Wayne Boyd
Yann Clairay
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 1'43.493 8.844 29 25 Connor de Phillippi
Philipp Eng
Timo Glock
Bruno Spengler
GTLM BMW M8 GTE 1'43.963 9.314 30 24 John Edwards
Jesse Krohn
Augusto Farfus
Marco Wittmann
GTLM BMW M8 GTE 1'44.206 9.557 31 28 Daniel Morad
Michael de Quesada
Billy Johnson
Maximilian Buhk
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 1'45.822 11.173 32 88 Rob Ferriol
Earl Bamber
Katherine Legge
Christina Nielsen
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'45.864 11.215 33 9 Zacharie Robichon
Laurens Vanthoor
Lars Kern
Matt Campbell
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'45.882 11.233 34 44 John Potter
Andy Lally
Spencer Pumpelly
Mario Farnbacher
GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'46.060 11.411 35 14 Aaron Telitz
Oliver Gavin
Kyle Kirkwood
Jack Hawksworth
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1'46.093 11.444 36 19 Mikhail Goikhberg
Franck Perera
Albert Costa
Tim Zimmermann
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'46.109 11.460 37 16 Ryan Hardwick
Patrick Long
Jan Heylen
Klaus Bachler
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'46.148 11.499 38 75 Kenny Habul
Raffaele Marciello
Mikael Grenier
Luca Stolz
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 1'46.152 11.503 39 57 Russell Ward
Philip Ellis
Indy Dontje
Maro Engel
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 1'46.215 11.566 40 96 Bill Auberlen
Robby Foley
Aidan Read
Colton Herta
GTD BMW M6 GT3 1'46.284 11.635 41 63 Ed Jones
Bret Curtis
Ryan Briscoe
Marcos Gomes
GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 1'46.292 11.643 42 12 Robert Megennis
Zach Veach
Townsend Bell
Frankie Montecalvo
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1'46.321 11.672 43 111 Rolf Ineichen
Mirko Bortolotti
Steijn Schothorst
Marco Mapelli
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'46.380 11.731 44 21 Simon Mann
Nicklas Nielsen
Daniel Serra
Matteo Cressoni
GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 1'46.829 12.180 45 23 Ian James
Roman De Angelis
Darren Turner
Ross Gunn
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1'46.854 12.205 46 1 Bryan Sellers
Madison Snow
Corey Lewis
Andrea Caldarelli
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'46.900 12.251 47 97 Maxwell Root
Charles Eastwood
Ben Keating
Richard Westbrook
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1'46.939 12.290 48 64 Ted Giovanis
Owen Trinkler
Hugh Plumb
Matt Plumb
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'47.063 12.414 49 42 Alan Metni
Andrew Davis
J.R. Hildebrand
Don Yount
GTD Audi R8 LMS GT3 1'47.750 13.101 View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Late changes for Wright Motorsport following crash
Next article GTD Pro class for GT3 cars to replace GTLM in 2022
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
David Malsher-Lopez
Alex Zanardi: The man whose name is a synonym for “hero”
IndyCar
IndyCar
Alex Zanardi: The man whose name is a synonym for “hero”
Remembering Michele Alboreto: F1 ace, Le Mans winner and a good man
Formula 1
Formula 1
Remembering Michele Alboreto: F1 ace, Le Mans winner and a good man
IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
IMSA
IMSA
Laguna Seca
IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
Latest news
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
2 h
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
2 h
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
3 h
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe