Rolex 24: Ganassi Cadillacs top final GTP practice at Daytona

The GTP teams practiced fuel stops, tire stops, driver changes and, in the case of the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh, practiced a swift nose change. Out on track, the teams were also testing the softer Michelin compound for use at night in the colder temperatures.

Particularly worth noting for the drivers and race engineers was the behavior of the softer rubber, given that there is a reduction in the number of tire sets this year and bigger fuel tanks, obliging cars to often double-stint their rubber.

Connor De Phillippi got his #25 BMW M Hybrid V8s down to 1min37.103sec, with van der Zande and Alex Lynn in the Ganassi Cadillacs also ducking into the low 1min37s. Then van der Zande delivered a 1min36.742sec, and was soon accompanied in that 96sec bracket by teammate Lynn.

De Phillippi’s best kept him in third, and although van der Zande’s Caddy was fastest in Sectors 1 and 2, De Phillippo was comfortably quickest through Sector 3.

Mathieu Jaminet’s seventh and final lap moved him up to fourth place in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963, just ahead of teammate Michael Christensen in the #7. Philipp Eng in the #24 BMW propped up the field but was within one second of top spot.

The Meyer Shank Racing Acura team elected not to participate in this session, and the same applied to fellow ARX-06 runner Wayne Taylor Racing, and Action Express Racing (Cadillac V-LMDh).

Rolex 24 at Daytona - Free Practice 5 results:

Cla	Num	Driver	Class	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	01	Sébastien Bourdais Renger van der Zande Scott Dixon	GTP	Cadillac V-LMDh	1'36.742
2	02	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook	GTP	Cadillac V-LMDh	1'36.872	0.130
3	25	Connor de Phillippi Nick Yelloly Sheldon Van Der Linde Colton Herta	GTP	BMW M Hybrid V8	1'37.103	0.361
4	6	Mathieu Jaminet Nick Tandy Dane Cameron	GTP	Porsche 963	1'37.409	0.667
5	7	Matt Campbell Felipe Nasr Michael Christensen	GTP	Porsche 963	1'37.634	0.892
6	24	Philipp Eng Augusto Farfus Marco Wittmann Colton Herta	GTP	BMW M Hybrid V8	1'37.738	0.996
7	10	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque Louis Deletraz Brendon Hartley	GTP	Acura ARX-06
8	31	Pipo Derani Alexander Sims Jack Aitken	GTP	Cadillac V-LMDh
9	60	Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun Helio Castroneves Simon Pagenaud	GTP	Acura ARX-06
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